< Back to all entries & Profiles
User Roberta profile image

Roberta Wende

Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design

Product Design MA / MFA

I am 25 years old product designer and designer, I started my professional studies with a degree in industrial product design engineering and then I graduated with a master's degree in product design art. As a designer, I am mainly interested in material-centred design with a focus on the circular use of materials. Through this approach, I am interested in experimenting with materials and using materials in new and innovative ways in new environments and experimenting with interesting combinations of materials.

Moa - A chair based on an experiment with industrial hemp

Category: Furniture

Competitions: Home Competition [Now Closed]

Moa is a lounge chair with material driven design focus in which the main motif was the scrapping of natural materials and traditions. During the project I worked with industrial hemp which I tried to process with a new technology in addition to its traditional forms of processing. Finally, the seat was made with punchneedle technology, which forms a strong structure. The furniture structure is made of an ash wood frame. Moa is based on tradition, raw materials and contemporary material culture. The project seeks to embrace and place in a new context the industrial hemp fibre, which has a long history and tradition not only in Hungary but also in Eastern Europe. By exemining the folk traditions and traditional processing, I tried to do material research with the fibre material, so that I could recapture its good qualities. In the experiments, needle felting was selected from several mechanical technologies as an innovative mechanical process in combination with hemp. Although the process can be considered traditional, it is still negligible in contemporary material culture. The process has further enhanced the positive attributes of hemp, such as its exceptional tensile strength and UV filtering properties.

Working with our partners at Arts Thread to develop lifelong learning and career opportunities for students of fashion and design. Our partnership provides the opportunity to compete on a world stage, participate in industry led workshops, set up an outstanding portfolio and gain access to the resources that will kickstart careers in fashion and design.