SLOW MOTION
Fly is the stroke of a bird’s wing manifested. A sculptural work challenging the boundaries of design, construction, and craft. Created in a beautiful collaboration between architect Hannes Stephensen and Egeværk.
The beauty of nature
Years back, at a Degas exhibition in London architect Hannes Stephensen was inspired by one sculpture in particular: ”One of the works at this exhibition was a bronze sculpture showing 12 incremental stages of a goose taking off from a lake. The sculpture showed how the feet and the wings collaborated in a wonderful symbiosis; from the bird resting on the surface of the water to it being airborne. I watched the many figures of the wings until they could carry the beautiful bird mid-air… There is both logic and beauty to this drama of a bird taking off, and it occurred to me that some of this beauty of nature could be transformed into a piece of furniture. It began as a free-flowing shape that in the design process has been translated into geometry. The chair is constructed of circles and balls and its main idea is a repetition of uniform elements. The result is light and effortless as a bird’s wing.”
101 pieces of perfect ash
Translating this ”beauty of nature” into a piece of furniture implied a long and demanding process, until Stephensen and Egeværk reached a construction uniting the strength suitable for a chair with the lightness of expression that was Stephensen’s great idea. The result is Fly, which is available as numbered works in a limited series of 20.
Egeværk has chosen Danish ash for Fly. Ash is strong and pliant with long flexible cells. On top of that, ash is beautiful, light and Nordic in its expression. Each Fly is made of wood from the same carefully selected log guaranteeing a harmonious grain and – in time – a uniform mellowness.
101 pieces of wood goes into a Fly. The combined back and armrests is made of 37 small pieces of wood – the wing feathers if you will. Each piece is individual ly shaped, and each piece is fitted very carefully by hand before we assemble the chair. All pieces are assembled in one concentrated and demanding gluing process lasting more than an hour. Treading carefully is pivotal while assembling the chair which we do using a special, very slowly drying glue.
We could go on and on with the details of Fly… Let’s just say that we are really proud to invite you to enjoy the beauty and drama of movement in Fly.