Jacob’s Ladder was made in collaboration with Kareno Kim and Eon Son for the 2022 Textiles Transforming Into Furniture course at RISD.
This project was initially inspired by the folk toy of the same name, and early educational tools by Friedrich Froebel.
In the spirit of combining both textile and 3D form to produce a furniture-object, we decided to explore the Jacob’s Ladder as a means of integrating traditional upholstery techniques and weaving methods to articulate a flexible seating system.
With an emphasis on adaptability and open-endedness, the Jacob’s Ladder employs a simple, but surprisingly complex system of webbing that offers exciting pathways for furniture. By scaling up the object, and translating simple wooden blocks into plush upholstery, the ladder becomes a unique offering with a lot of potential.
This project was perhaps most concerned with the issue of how to make a custom textile structural, or provide the essential structure to a piece of furniture.
Textile support from Maharam
Fabric: Gemma Multi by Sander Lak