{"id":20830,"date":"2021-04-30T13:52:06","date_gmt":"2021-04-30T20:52:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/?p=20830"},"modified":"2021-05-11T07:56:48","modified_gmt":"2021-05-11T14:56:48","slug":"philippe-starck-designed-production-chair-generative-design-ai","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/philippe-starck-designed-production-chair-generative-design-ai\/","title":{"rendered":"Remember When Philippe Starck Designed a Production Chair With Generative Design?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A look back at how Philippe Starck, Kartell and Autodesk Research created the first-ever production chair using generative design and unveiled it at Salone del Mobile 2019.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"philippe-starck-generative-design-chair-furniture-software\"
The world\u2019s first production chair created by AI in collaboration with humans. The chair, A.I, is the result of Philippe Starck\u2019s collaboration with Italian contemporary furniture maker Kartell and Autodesk Research. Image courtesy of Kartell. Starck. Autodesk.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Remember 2019? To be honest, I barely do. But while I was looking back to pre-pandemic times, I found myself reminiscing over my trip to Milan for Milan Design Week 2019 and how energized the city center was with exhibitions, public installations, and trade shows. Though Salone del Mobile<\/a> isn’t geographically the heart of design week (it’s a decently far train ride away), the tradeshow is the foundation of why many companies flock to the city for the week. Picture miles (yes, miles) of trade show booths packed with themed apartment-envy worthy displays, over-the-top furniture design, and a section for exciting student work. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But during 2019’s iteration of Salone del Mobile, I noticed a new thread subtly poking through in the thousands of designs I saw: technology emerged as a celebrated part of the furniture design process. Leading the pack was a chair displayed at Kartell<\/a>‘s booth that stood out from the company’s usual design ethos. Its organic form didn’t look like anything I had ever seen before (cut me some slack, I didn’t work at Autodesk yet). It turns out that it was designed in collaboration with French designer Philippe Starck<\/a> and Autodesk Research<\/a> using generative design in Fusion 360<\/a>. The chair, aptly named A.I, was the first production chair created by artificial intelligence (AI) in collaboration with humans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Starck is known for his futuristic approach to design\u2014from acrylic takes on traditional furniture<\/a> to alien-like lemon squeezers<\/a> to space hotels<\/a>\u2014so the idea that he would be the first furniture designer to collaborate with AI at this scale made sense. But then I remembered: at the time, Starck didn’t even own a computer<\/a> and therefore didn’t typically work with furniture design software. Though CAD software like Fusion 360 is widely used by designers worldwide, this AI co-sign by such a revered designer signaled a step forward for human-machine design collaboration.<\/p>\n\n\n

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