About
Orion J. Cortez
Take a Seat.
Take a Seat
Take a Seat is a project born from my desire to bring typography into physical spaces—specifically through chairs. Each letter of the font is designed to double as the silhouette of a chair, blending form and function. The concept came to life with the production of the letter “b,” which was crafted, upholstered, and shared with others to experience and interact with.
Prototyping
The process of creating the font started in cardboard consturction of letters “abcde“ where I realised that this could be a real thing. So I reached out to Revial Studio’s Leeland for chair making tips.
3D Design
I took to Fusion360, where I developed the CAD model of the “b“ to use to manufacture the chair. working through I quickly realised that the process of using an engineering software to make type was lovely, the specific constraints
and measurements made for a easy progression.
The Frame of the “b” was than fully completed and ready for fabrication phase.
Current State
The Chair is in the Manufacturing process now!
I have been working like a dog creating the different parts to make the letter “b” exsist.
The largest challenge is getting the chair backer to kerf, this is mostly because I am working in 31 degree temperatures. Part of the kerf (bending wood), has to wetted with water to relax the fibers in the wood. Unfortunately, the wood becomes entirely to cold shocking it and making the wood brittle around the kerf cuts.
Going forward I am upholstering the seat and making sure the frame is completely manufactured.
The AI Rendering
To help illustrate and show the intention of the project I tooke to adobe firefly to use my type and make a rough rendering of what the chair will look like. This project has been a constant design as I have had to work on 3 different printers for cuts, accessing community for tips and materials, and using every tool at my disposal to make a functioning project.
All said the chair is constantly challenging me to look deeper into my design process.
What surprised me was how much I enjoyed using engineering software to create type. I ended up designing every letter, which eventually led to Seat Font. Now, I love handing it out to others with the playful message, “Take a Seat.”