To understand the principle of HygroShape, imagine those tents that you can just throw in the air and they land already set up and ready for a night’s camping. But the Stuttgart University project is not about tents, it is about furnishings, using the natural characteristics of wood in a method based on respect for nature.
It starts with research into materials, in particular the moisture content of various types of wood, to try to reduce the use of glue and the prototyping and form study phases.
The result is products that can be assembled in a completely natural way, without human intervention, in about 8-12 hours, taking on ever-changing shapes, and a surface that changes according to the way the wood dries in the environment in which it is placed.

The most recent projects that have chosen to reduce environmental impact by finding alternative materials in their design often put a lot of effort into analysing the mechanical resistance of the materials and their refinement.
The seats appear at first glance as simple wooden planks, contained in a flat box. Inside, the planks are wrapped in packaging that retains the material’s moisture. It is only when they are exposed to the air that the planks begin to react with the environment by drying and pressing together until they curve, forming a backrest and a surface on which to sit. The same process forms a chaise longue, which, like the chair, has unpredictable shapes that designers are unable to define at the design stage. The curves are in fact completely random and depend only on how the planks have chosen to bind together and how they press against each other at the few sealed points of contact.

The first HygroShape products, manufactured by Hylo Tech, will hit the market in spring. This is a new design language of self-modelling furniture based on biomimetic material principles, a study which is part of the ongoing search for ecological solutions.
You can find out more about the Stuttgart University project here.