KUBU
Wooden sculpted Chaise
186 x 60 x 87 cm
This piece is a chaise longue for open spaces. It is made of basswood, combining a high-tech process with an artisanal, handmade finish. In an idiosyncratic manner, it appears to be simply floating on the surface. This is achieved by creating a fine balance between ergonomics, mass equilibrium and the overall form of the piece. Kubu is the result of a combination of high-tech five-axis CNC machining and highly skilled woodworking. Pakhalé: ‘Until Kubu, I had never used wood in such an elaborate manner. I wanted to create a chaise longue with correct ergonomics and a perfect equilibrium, without compromising the overall aesthetics of the piece.’ Kubu chaise longue is assembled out of smaller pieces of basswood. The Austronesian name Kubu was intended ‘to create awareness about natural resources in the tropical region of our planet although Kubu is not made of any of those resources.’ It took a lot of prototyping using handmade study models to arrive at the result. The mathematical model was used to make a precisely machined piece using a five-axis milling machine in the Veneto region. Having done the highly technical machining of the wood, the next step was to find a skilled wood craftsman who could lend it a tactile surface. Pakhalé found sixth-generation wood carvers in the mountains of Bolzano who achieved the desired results with what Pakhalé calls ‘a simple yet incredibly meditative act of woodworking’.
Kubu edited by ammann//gallery
