Presenter: Daisy Yen
Faculty Mentor: Jessica Swanson, John Arndt
Presentation Type: Poster 90
Primary Research Area: Design
Major: Product Design
Douglas Fir trees are usually used as the material for furniture, poles, and flooring in some buildings, which usually consume a large quantity of wood. Since people are now more aware of environmental issues and how long it takes for a tree to grow a certain size, the wood industry has begun designing and producing smaller home-goods products. The umbrella stand represents the smaller furniture and home accessories that are made out of Douglas Fir. The top and bottom pieces are each made from three layers of thin slices of fir, which were soaked in hot water for thirty minutes, then bent individually around a mold to achieve the round shape. They are then glued together after shaping and drying them individually. The four sides are also each made out of three thin slices of fir, which were placed on top of the mold and formed their shape in a vacuum bag for up to ten hours. Through bending the fir, I found out that certain density and colors of grains are easier to bend in certain directions, so choosing the right part of the wood for a specific part is essential and can affect whether the slices are able to bend successfully. Learning how to work with fir requires first getting to know its characteristics so as to be able to work around those instead of forcing the wood to conform to shapes that are not suitable.