Based on a smaller design he created a few years ago, Mathias Bengtsson’s gigantic Spun bench is now on display at an art gallery in Washington DC. But how can this giant installation only weigh 5kg? It’s made from that uber-material known as carbon fibre.
Normally, carbon fibre is woven into large panels that are used to build high-performance but lightweight super cars and fighter planes. But in this case, an industrial fabrication technique is used where carbon thread is spun into a 3D form. After it’s cured in a kiln, the resulting carbon fibre tube is still incredibly strong, but it uses far less material, so it ends up being cheaper and lighter. In fact, the entire structure weighs about the same as four phonebooks. [Industry Gallery DC via FastCo Design]