Royal College of Art
Graduates: 2025
Specialisms: Furniture / Product Design
My location: London, United Kingdom
First Name: Yumeng
Last Name: Wang
University / College: Royal College of Art
Course / Program: Design Products MA
Graduates: 2025
Specialisms: Furniture / Product Design
My Location: London, United Kingdom
Website: Click To See Website
“Rigour” is a leather chair collection that challenges and extends the capabilities of leather as a structural material in furniture making. It questions the common typology of industrial materials and demonstrates new potentials in pure leather furniture. I have taken the traditional leather hardening process of using stearic acid, which is commonly used for making armours, and incorporated it in furniture making. During the process, leather sheet is first being wet-moulded onto a mould, then soaked in heated stearic acid solution and left to dry. Stearic acid is a natural substance found in animal fats and vegetable oils. It is commonly used in candles and cosmetics as an emulsifier or hardener.