Trì Furniture Collection

Physical and Digital

Artist Statement

Concept

The Trì Chair establishes a new standard in digital-physical design, existing as both a functional artist’s stool and a digital artwork, realised through a singular creative process. Designed for both practical use and artistic representation, it is crafted with precision before being reinterpreted as a digital composition. This dual existence reflects the evolving relationship between creative practice, technology, and material execution in the 21st century.

The digital artwork reinterprets the artist’s stool within a constructed visual space, shaped by Nordic and Renaissance influences. Light, materiality, and spatial relationships are precisely composed to reinforce its conceptual and aesthetic presence. The composition shifts the stool from function to symbol, establishing it as both an active tool and a studied subject within an intentional artistic setting.

The word Trì, Scottish Gaelic for ‘three,’ reflects a structural and conceptual foundation that informs both its design and philosophical intent. Developed through a unified workflow, where fabrication and digital rendering are intrinsically linked, Trì Chair embodies a hybrid creative practice in which design, function, and artistic representation converge.

Technical Description

Digital Modeling & Design Process

The physical chair and digital artwork were developed through a singular digital-to-physical workflow, where fabrication and visual representation evolve as a singular process. A 3D-driven approach integrates digital precision with material craftsmanship, ensuring both outputs maintain structural and conceptual integrity.

Trì Chair was designed using 3D software, allowing for precise control over form, proportions, and structural balance. Its design is rooted in equilateral geometries, drawing from historical Renaissance furniture while embracing a minimalist, contemporary aesthetic.

A digital workflow enabled refinements in material interaction, joinery precision, and spatial articulation before fabrication. Shadow and light studies were conducted within the 3D model, ensuring alignment between the physical and digital iterations. These pre-visualisations and digital prototypes allowed for technical and artistic control over the final execution.

Rendering & Digital Artwork Execution

The digital artwork reinterprets Trì Chair in a meticulously staged environment, shaped by Nordic and Renaissance influences. The composition was rendered using Cinema4D and Corona Render, leveraging advanced 3D techniques to refine lighting, materiality, and spatial relationships.

Curated objects, such as fruit, evoke classical motifs while aligning with contemporary design sensibilities. Muted colour palettes enhance the harmony between light and materials, creating cohesion across the collection. A single light source, influenced by Baroque chiaroscuro, was used to amplify depth, contrast, and surface definition, transforming the artist’s stool from a functional object into a conceptual form within a controlled composition. The artwork does not merely depict the stool. It reconstructs its presence within a framed setting, reinforcing its dual role in creative practice.

Fabrication & Material Execution

The equilateral structure reinforces aesthetic symmetry while optimising weight distribution and stability, ensuring the physical chair functions with the same intentionality as its digital representation. Light ash wood was selected for its structural integrity, grain, and durability.

The chair design was optimised for CNC milling, allowing for precision-cut components with minimal material waste, aligning with sustainable fabrication principles. Each component was precision-milled and seamlessly assembled, using advanced joinery and hand-finishing to maintain its sculptural clarity.

Closing Statement

The Trì Chair embodies a new paradigm in digital-physical design, where computational precision and material craftsmanship converge. By merging digital fabrication with conceptual artistry, it challenges traditional boundaries, offering a refined vision of how technology, design, and artistic practice intersect in the 21st century.