Printed perfection

Dutch designer Dirk van der Kooij perfects his revolutionary 3D-printing technique to produce a stackable chair.
Dirk van der Kooij's RvR chair. Image: Dirk van der Kooij.
Dirk van der Kooij's RvR chair. Image: Dirk van der Kooij.

Together with Niek Schoenmakers of WNDR\KMR and the Council of Justice in The Hague Dirk van der Kooij designed a stackable chair: the RvR Chair.

His Chubby Chair design formed the basis of the design except the RvR chair is made of a single piece. It's an elementary and therefore ageless design.

A Chubby in one piece has been a cherished wish of mine for a long time and with the new robot arm we are now capable of moving the Chubby directly from the production plate into the template where it gets its ultimate form, he explains.

Van der Kooij uses a converted CNC (computer numerical control) extruder that prints, level after level, continuous layers of low-resolution recycled plastic.

The result is a beautifully layered line pattern of intertwining legs and armrests – reminiscent of an Escher drawing. Moreover, the interplay of lines reveals how the chair is made, using the 3D-printing technique. 

Watch the Talk with Dirk Vander Kooij