BEETLE COLLECTION
GAMFRATESI
FROM BEETLE TO BEETLE
THE MAKING OF AN ICON
BEETLE IN 3D VENEER
EVERY MOMENT HAS A BEETLE
AT THE ALCHEMIST
MEET THE FAMILY
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CONTENTS
GAMFRATESI
DESIGNED
BY
GamFratesi has been working with GUBI since
the inception of their studio and the development
of the Beetle Chair. With their own dual heritage,
Italian Enrico Fratesi and Danish Stine Gam
share GUBI’s ability to synthesize seemingly
opposing ideas – the classic and the contemporary,
the intellectual and the sensual, the understated
and the expressive, the manufactured and the
unique. These juxtapositions, as well as the
boldness and curiosity that drives their desire
to find inspiration in unfamiliar territory, are
epitomized in the Beetle Collection.
Plants and animals have adapted over millennia to respond
to evolutionary niches and perhaps none more so than the
humble beetle. 300,000 species live across the globe in
almost every environment on land or in water. Their sheer
diversity and adaptability have seen them inform and inspire
everything from ancient cultural myths to twentieth-century
cars and British pop bands.
The discipline of biomimicry proposes that the ingenuity of
nature can be translated into contemporary product and
furniture design, in order to seek smarter solutions that are
good for our mental and physical health as well as the planet.
“The perfection, honesty and harmony found in nature can
suggest technical resolutions and aesthetic forms,” say
designers Stine Gam and Enrico Fratesi of GamFratesi.
“By mimicking the finer details of nature with form, function,
proportion or pattern, we can recreate biophilic human con-
nections and healthy responses to the natural environment.”
E
T
For the Beetle Chair, GamFratesi became captivated by the
idea of translating the form of a beetle into a product for the
home. The pair drew on the form and function of an archetypal
beetle to create an iconic and ergonomic chair with a hard, yet
supple, two-part outer shell with a comfortable inner surface
“The kind and protective anatomy of the beetle fascinated
us,” they explain. “The Beetle’s outline is so harmonious; we
immediately felt the desire to reinterpret it.”
The structure of a beetle’s articulated shell comprises solid
plates connected by flexible sutures, which allow the beetle
to move, while maintaining protection and form.
“It looks solid and impenetrable and yet, in places, it is
sinuous and flexible, and this seeming contradiction is what
enables it to move freely,” say the designers. “All these
elements are linked and work together in a fascinating way.
One of the many reasons we studied beetles was their ability
to carry out technical movements while keeping their parts
rigid and defined.”
In 2013, GUBI and GamFratesi introduced the Beetle Chair to
the world, and a modern design classic was born.
THE MAKING
OF AN ICON
Strikingly simple in form but full of personality,
GamFratesi’s design combined crafted details
and advanced manufacturing technologies to
produce something truly original: a highly
versatile, extremely comfortable, and beautifully
expressive chair inspired by the forms of nature.
Beetle Dining Chair in 3D Oak Veneer, upholstered in Dedar Karakorum 001
The Beetle Chair’s unique success as a design is rooted in its
distinctive fusion of artisanal craftsmanship and technologically
advanced production techniques. Like the insect that inspired
it, the chair combines an almost mechanical exactitude of
form with an organic, contoured softness – a duality that
mirrors the man-meets-machine story of its making.
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One of the distinctive features of GamFratesi’s inspiration,
the beetle insect, is its ability to make complex movements
while keeping its constituent parts rigid and defined. Echoing
this, the chair’s elegant 10-millimeter, single-curved outer
shell, had to be capable of flexing in response to the body’s
micro-movements in such a way as to ensure high ergonomic
performance while maintaining a strong silhouette.
The manufacturing process used to achieve this pushes
thermo-plastic technology to its limits, creating a shell with a
continuous curved form that is robust and firm, while retaining
flexibility. The high-pressure 3D injection-molded plastic of
the Beetle Chair’s outer shell exhibits a slight bend, just like a
technical office chair but – thanks to variations in thickness of
the shell at certain points – maintains the graceful, domestic
aesthetic that so many design fans have fallen in love with
over the last decade.
MOLDED FOR MOVEMENT
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The unique flex of the Beetle Chair’s shell allows it to offer movement-responsive
support for long periods of time, enabling effortless switching between different
sitting positions. This level of comfort is enhanced further in the chair’s upholstered
variants, which feature dual layers of high-performance foam. The lower, firmer
layer is configured to maximize comfort during long periods of sitting, whereas
the softer upper layer that covers it provides a feeling of indulgence and relaxation
from the instant you sit down. Precision-cut to fit the shell, the foam layers perfectly
cover the Beetle’s hard edges, giving the upholstered chair the comfort for which
the chair is celebrated.
CRAFTED
FOR
COMFORT
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While cutting-edge technology and production techniques deliver the high
degree of accuracy needed to create the Beetle’s extraordinary shape, the
final touches that underpin its crafted identity are performed manually. After
the shell has been molded, excess plastic is carefully cut away by hand to
refine the chair’s soft contours and edges. Upholstery fabrics and leathers are
individually checked and quality-tested for any imperfections, and individually
inspected to ensure they are evenly stretched across the curved shell. Where
the front and back panels meet, a special piping technique adds an aesthetic
finish, with the final stitching completed by hand.
HAND MADE DETAILS
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The Beetle’s lightness of expression
is partly down to the finessed form of
its legs. Tapering down from the frame
below the seat to the floor, the legs
have a conic shape that elevates the
seat and contributes to the delicacy
and refinement of the chair’s silhouette.
Visually softening the steel frame in this
way presents a significant technical
challenge, requiring that the steel be
heated and shaped to the finest degree
in order to balance the legs’ organic,
beetle-like elegance with the engineered
sturdiness of the frame.
After shaping, the legs are treated to
obtain different finishes in variations of
black, chrome and brass, each requiring
a unique surface application to achieve
flawless results. For the antique brass
variant, hand-polishing delivers the
distinctive vintage look.
ORGANIC
GEOMETRY
Beetle Dining Chair in 3D Oak Veneer, upholstered in Dedar Karakorum 001