Chair made from waste sawdust and resin

Sawdust is a very useful material. It can be turned into particleboard, paper, or it can be used as mulch, for your pets, or as fuel. Still, sawdust is often thrown away after woodworking. In addition, it is not often the intention that you can still see the individual flakes of wood in design, or that the sawdust is used without pressing it together. Korean designer Oh Geon used leftover sawdust from a woodworking studio and resin to create a blocky stool. The translucent resin still clearly shows the flakes of wood.

Aiming to explore the possibilities of discarded materials, Geon, who is currently studying woodworking and furniture design at Hongik University in Seoul, created the chair from a combination of leftover walnut and oak chips. He combined the wood chips with resin before pouring it into a cuboid mould. After the shape set, he peeled off the mould and applied an extra layer of resin on the surface. Finally, he smoothed the chair through sanding.

Through experimentations, he found out that if the sawdust mixture is accumulated at regular intervals, it forms natural layers.

During the process, Geon also noticed the effect different woods had on the colouring and pattern of the chair – something he likens to the earth’s layers, or stratum. A simple mould gave the best result for the making process, as it gives a strong pattern. There was no additional or artificial attempt on colouring each unit. The sawdust was just separated by species of wood such as walnut and oak, so different colours wood chips will make different colours furniture.

Photos via Dezeen