Dutch product design graduate Toon Welling designed the Bound Basics collection of simple furniture that is held together with nothing more than rope. Using what Buckminster Fuller termed “tensegrity” (short for tensional integrity), the rope creates the tension that is required to hold the pieces together sans nails or screws. The crisscrossing also adds a unique design element to each piece.
Each piece is made from eco-friendly materials like FSC-Certified composite wood laminate and hemp rope.
Photos by Wouter Stelwagen.

4 Comments
Phil on 08.22.2012 at 13:10 PM
This furniture is not tensegrity furniture. In a true tensegrity, the struts do not touch and the geometry shifts when the structure is under stress.
This furniture is traditional with some tension elements to help support the structure. That’s a fine thing for a designer to do, but these things are rather commonplace in the home. A good example is a turnbuckle on a screen door diagonal (a tensile element) to help support the weight of the door.
If you want to see some true tensegrity furniture, go to http://www.intensiondesigns.com/gallery.html .
Lutz on 08.22.2012 at 23:15 PM
I have to agree with Phil here, this is not really a tensegrity design. The compression elements connect, and the tension elements (rope) don’t. Instead of screws compressing the solid elements together, this is done by rope. Using the term tensegrity for this furniture is a mere marketing gag.
jay on 10.31.2013 at 00:17 AM
Where i can find this ?
Jaime Derringer on 10.31.2013 at 11:56 AM
Please see the designer’s website here – http://toonwelling.com/BoundBasics
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