Impala Project
Koa armchair
A sculptural armchair in sustainably harvested Formosan koa, made with Waveaffects in Hsinchu from 2019 to 2020. We CNC-milled the components and finished them by hand, some left natural and some bleached or dyed, until the figure ran through the horn-like back and arms. 120 cm across.
Form exploration
We sketched toward the alert stance a young impala holds, testing seat and back angles on small wood mockups. We wanted the lines to read as one gesture, not four parts bolted together.
Material preparation
Koa is dense, rigid and full of hidden stress. We boiled it for a month before making a single cut, then built plywood molds for the 5-axis CNC and joinery that accounts for how koa splits. Longest phase, and it decided everything after it.
Machining and assembly
We milled the seat, back, arms and legs from the conditioned blanks. The machine held a geometry no hand could match, then left surfaces that needed real work. Master artisans in Hsinchu sanded each piece, oiled it to raise the figure, and fitted the joinery.
Specifications
W120 × D85 × H35/70 cm · natural + bleached/dyed Formosan koa · CNC + hand finishing · collaboration with Waveaffects, Hsinchu · Taichung, Taiwan · 2019 to 2020
Gallery
- Challenges1/2
Hidden stress cracked our early cuts. We revised the boiling schedule and the mold geometry, reprogrammed the toolpaths, and slowed the feeds until the machine stopped burning the surface.
- Insights2/2
Koa takes longer to settle than any hardwood we had worked before, and skipping that month would have cost us the piece. The machine got the shape; the artisans got the wood back.
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