MIT’s Self-Assembly Lab and Emeco are excited to announce a new collaboration and exhibit.
Join us on October 11 for a showcase of a zero waste mono-material approach to producing upholstery without foam, glues or manual assembly through 3D Knitting.
“By combining our lab’s advances in materials and functional textiles with Emeco’s legacy at the forefront of the furniture industry, we’re excited to showcase how textile innovation can redefine the relationship between sustainability, manufacturing and design.”
-Skylar Tibbits, Director of the Self-Assembly Lab at MIT
No Foam KNIT, a collaboration between MIT's Self-Assembly Lab and Emeco, challenges traditional furniture design paradigms by focusing on fully knit upholstery that completely eliminates the use of foam, adhesives, assembly, and material waste. This pioneering approach, developed through the Self-Assembly Lab’s expertise in industrial knitting, not only reduces environmental impact but also reimagines how we think about comfort and aesthetics in furniture.
To achieve this, the team developed new techniques for knit upholstery that can replace foam by providing comparable soft cushioning in a 3D knit structure while also eliminating any assembly or waste by removing cut-and-sew processes. Further, the upholstery is a fully recyclable mono-material textile, eliminating waste at the end-of-life. These techniques not only minimize the footprint of textiles in the furniture industry but they also point towards new manufacturing and assembly possibilities that can be customizable, efficient and lead to new aesthetics through material functionality.
