anton alvarez: the craft of thread wrapping

anton alvarez: the craft of thread wrapping
image courtesy of anton alvarez/paul plews

anton alvarez is the designer behind a series of thread-wrapped furniture, which utilized a specific device that he developed as a mechanical medium. he is the creator of the thread wrapping machine, a mechanism which joins different types of material with glue-coated thread, binding the objects together without any nails or screws. alvarez takes pieces of material — wood, steel or plastic — and coats them in glue, then spins them in thousands of meters of thread. as alvarez controlls the mechanism by a foot pedal, the sticky parts are passed through the wrapping machine as it cycles around. while this process is taking place, additional components are added to create the legs of a chair or seat backs.

one of the pieces presented at design miami/basel 2013 together with gallery libby sellers
photo courtesy of paul plews
 

the artist uses a variety of colors and styles of thread, ultimately creating different decorative patterns for the final objects. the style, which he calls the craft of thread wrapping, is a new way of making that has spawned from alvarez’ background in cabinetmaking and research in process-based design. he has created hundreds of pieces of furniture — stools, benches, chairs, lamps, and interlocking structures — using the thread wrapping machine. his work has been presented at design miami/basel 2013 by gallery libby sellers. alvarez will be part of the sixth edition of IN residence, a thematic workshop that seeks to contribute to contemporary debate about design, from october 9th – 12th 2013.

 
wood, glue-coated thread bench
photo courtesy of paul plews

 
a chair coated in blue, brown, and white thread
photo courtesy of paul plews

 
stool in red, black, and green
photo courtesy of paul plews

a detail of a wooden chair wrapped in gold, white, and green thread
photo courtesy of paul plews

the artist and the thread machine
photo courtesy of marta thisner

alvarez spins the piece in the machine
photo courtesy of marta thisner

a work in progress
photo courtesy of marta thisner

1/23