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Horseless Rocking Horse by Studio Ve

I was thrilled when Studio Ve agreed to create a brand new piece to share with you here in our April Deconstruction column. Let’s see their new take on an old classic.

Our approach to design is very straightforward — we observe an object, identify something about it that we want to question and then play with it. When Design Milk asked us to take part in the Deconstruction project, we chose a rocking horse. Like every project, we started with examining the object and found out that most of the rocking horses share the same basic characteristics: they are mostly made out of wood; many feature a horse silhouette, focusing on the head.

In order to research a REAL rocking horse, we went on a field trip to a horse ranch.

We noticed that somewhere in the transformation process (between the real horse and the rocking one), it loses some of the main components that make the horse riding so much thrilling: the spread legs, the upright sitting, the smells –- of the skin, of the hay, and the elementary feeling of the beast itself.

Our goal was to create a rocking horse that somewhat neglects the traditional classic characteristics and instead brings the fragrance and the sense that describes the horse. This is our Horseless Rocking.

Wherever there are horses –- there are also bales of hay. The selection in a bale of hay to resemble the horse was only natural as it cites both the smells and the colors that are typically featured in a ranch, and also acts as the horse seat.

We took home a bale of hay -– and -– action!

We created a construction made by wood only (like carts). All the parts were cut in 2D CNC.

Then some finishing (filing, chamfering)

All the parts are aligned and the assembly can start.

First assembling each of the two sides

Then jointing the two sides together.

In order to connect the legs to the rocking arcs, we naturally used the good old dovetail joint to resemble the horse hooves. The base is made out of oak, except the legs which are soft maple.

The stripes that tight the bale, and connect it to the base are made out of leather and used as reins.

And that’s all! Just add the bale, and sit tight.

Oh BOy! YeAH! RIDE!

Details:
Materials: soft maple, oak, leather
Size: 130X45X35cm (construction base only)
130X45X70cm (with bale)

Jaime Derringer, Founder + Executive Editor of Design Milk, is a Jersey girl living in SoCal. She dreams about funky, artistic jewelry + having enough free time to enjoy some of her favorite things—running, reading, making music, and drawing.