Ara Thorose’s collection ‘BOYD Works’, materially translates and abstracts expressions of humanness and body language into sloping cylindrical furniture objects. Each cylinder is configured in a game-like approach to design, resulting in undulating minimal forms that perform the function of chairs and tables, inviting users to distinctive object-body interaction.

all photography is courtesy of Se Yoon Park

Recently exhibited at NADA NY by Carvalho Park, Thorose’s collection is comprised of two chair designs, a table, and a multi-functional furniture-type object. Each statement furniture-object experiments with the existing boundaries of form and function, while featuring the minimal and fluid curving forms, and the varied materials that are so characteristic of the designer’s style.

The width of the cylinders that form the furniture objects are modeled after the Armenian-American designer’s own thigh. The name BOYD is a reordering of ‘body’, losing its own original meaning while retaining an essential ‘body’ ness. ‘I use the width of my thigh as the basis for the cylinders, so they’re like abstractions of myself’, says Thorose.

wrapped in latex, the NUN chair’s minimal form is composed of three curving movements of a steel cylinder

Each piece is hand-made using a different material, from latex, PVC rubber, polyurethane foam, silk fabric, glass, and neoprene. Both the NUN Chair and 4M Chairs’ forms are composed of several curving movements of the thigh-wide cylinders. The NUN Chair’s minimal seat and low-seat back invite an ‘active sitting’ experience, while the 4M Chair’s curves ascend to create a semi-seat and seat-back.

The ULU XT1 Table’s neoprene cylinder flows through a pattern of U-turns and L-turns, meeting the surface of the floor and the glass box table-top in mere touches. The versatile and ambiguous UN is created in one curve that crests at a seat-standard height, and the cylinder achieves a function through minimal configuration.

inviting an ‘active sitting’ experience, it prompts the user to sit up-right

the empty space in between the semi-seat and seat-back of the 4M chair is designed to nestle the sitter’s posterior

the width of the cylinder is based on the designer’s thigh, humanizing the abstract nature of the work

UN is a versatile, multi-purpose furniture-type object, functioning as an ottoman, stool or floor pillow

the ambiguous object’s twisting cylinder is made of rubber, lycra and steel

ULU XT1’s dark cylinder follows a minimal course of movement, as the form touches the essential points for becoming a table’s armature

the table top is a glass box, its width proportioned to the flowing neoprene cylinders

name: BOYD Works designer: Ara Thorose

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edited by: ravail khan | designboom

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