Once dismantled and processed, the reclaimed formwork panels can be transformed into a wide variety of objects. But for our partner, META Design, simply reusing materials isn’t quite enough. As a team known for drawing out renewed value from discarded materials, they care more about one fundamental question: What message should the final piece convey? Only when the core concept is clarified does the team begin exploring how these recycled materials can be used to express it.
Faced with wood formwork recovered from the construction site, the designers came up with an intriguing idea: What if we could bend the panels—and sit on them?
But how do you bend something as rigid as formwork? Drawing from traditional woodworking techniques, the team used kerf-cutting—cutting a series of evenly spaced grooves into the wood. These slits allow the material to bend along the cuts without compromising its overall structure, achieving the desired curve. This process required precise calculations and multiple rounds of testing before arriving at an ideal cutting method—turning the concept of the “Formwork Chair” into a real, buildable design.
photo credit：META Design
photo credit：META Design
photo credit：META Design
photo credit：META Design
