Christian + Jade explores the Weight of Wood at 3 Days of Design

Christian + Jade explores the Weight of Wood at 3 Days of Design كريستيان + جايد يستكشف وزن الخشب في 3 أيام من التصميم

Christian + Jade explores the Weight of Wood at 3 Days of Design

The Weight of Wood exhibition, which takes place at the Dinesen showroom as part of the Copenhagen festival 3 Days of Design, was the result of a year-long research project commissioned by the brand’s recently founded Dinesen Lab.

Photo of Weight of Wood exhibition
Weight of Wood is an exhibition by Christian + Jade

Dinesen Lab invited Christian Hammer Juhl and Jade Chan, founders of Christian + Jade, to take part in a residency in which local artists were asked to work with wood harvested by the company to produce a research project and explore the weight of wood.

The Weight of Wood installation is located within a large exhibition space at the brand’s showroom in Copenhagen. This was divided into a series of smaller rooms via sheets of textured paper hung vertically from a wooden pavilion.

Photo of an installation at the Weight of Wood exhibition
It takes place at the Dinesen showroom

Each of the smaller rooms separates the exhibition into three different parts titled Forest and Wood, Wood and Wood, and Human and Wood.

Throughout the exhibition space, wooden tables hold several experiments and interventions completed by Christian + Jade using different types of wood that were harvested by Dinesen.

“We were fascinated by the idea that no two pieces of wood weigh the same. Not even if it comes from the same tree trunk,” the studio explained at a preview of the exhibition. “This was really what sparked our interest in this project.”

Photo of Weight of Wood
The exhibition explores how wood has been commodified

“Through this exhibition, we have tried to work with this idea in various scales,” the studio founders added. “It sort of presents a design methodology, combining different pieces of wood with different densities.”

“What we have created is not only a series of furniture but also a rocking horse, a rocking chair, and lots of small experiments that visualize this intangible quality of wood, which is the weight of wood.”

A collection of different-sized cubic wooden volumes were presented in the exhibition, made from 11 different species of wood. Including beech, cherry, Douglas fir, and elm. Each of the pieces of wood weighs 250 grams and conveys the different densities of wood through volume and size.

A seesaw placed at the rear of the exhibition space featured a base made from Douglas fir and topped by a seat constructed from equal parts Douglas fir and oak. As a result of oak having a higher density than Douglas fir, the seesaw will always lean towards its oak-constructed side.

Photo of a wooden scale at Weight of Wood exhibition
The designers used Dinesen’s wood for their experiments

“We chose three different furniture archetypes that require weight and balance in their function. The seesaw, the rocking chair, and the rocking horse,” Chan said.

“So in designing or reimagining the furniture, we’ve worked with four of Dinesen’s main wood species. That is Douglas fir, oak, pine, and ash.”

Photo of the exhibition
The exhibition was divided into three parts

“The seesaw is an example of one of the simple principles that we apply. The pivot point is made using Douglas and the seat is made using oak and Douglas,” Chan added.

The rocking horse was constructed from 87 percent Douglas fir and 13 percent ash. Because of its Douglas fir-heavy construction, the horse always tilts towards one side, which provides it with a unique movement.

Photo of the exhibition

Chan concluded the preview of the Weight of Wood exhibition with a poem by H P Dinesen. A relative of the company founders:

“To those who love the tree, those who may be fighting the tree, the one who plants the tree, the one who fells the tree, the poet who praises the tree, and the one who simply settles with enjoying the tree.”

 

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