Up-Ring

Up-Ring is a 3D-printed office furniture development project led by the Hiroya Tanaka Laboratory at Keio University SFC in collaboration with Okamura, one of Japan’s leading office furniture manufacturers. In this project, Boolean was responsible for redesigning existing furniture geometries for FGF—Fused Granular Fabrication—and validating the corresponding manufacturing methods. Using our expertise in DfAM, or Design for Additive Manufacturing, we aimed to preserve the visual character of the original furniture while adapting each geometry to the constraints and possibilities of large-format additive manufacturing.

Our work included:

• Introducing structural geometries suitable for FGF
• Designing overhangs according to the behavior of specific materials
• Improving the printability of corners and curved surfaces
• Optimizing manufacturing processes for large-scale production

A total of 50 iconic plastic chairs were examined, including Verner Panton’s Panton Chair and Eero Aarnio’s Moon Chair.
Through this study, we developed more than 20 distinct printing protocols. The outcome was not simply a collection of prototypes. It functioned as a proof of concept that supported the investmen decision for the next development phase and ultimately contributed to the commercialization and sale of 3D-printed furniture by Okamura.

Up-Ring was also the first project in which Boolean applied FGF at a substantial scale. The knowledge developed through this work later became one of the foundations for the Foresting Architecture project.

Credits & Recognition

• Project owner: Hiroya Tanaka Laboratory at Keio University SFC
• Product manufacturer: OKAMURA CORPORATION