Dafi Kühne: Turboblock Nr. 8

Turboblock Nr. 8 is a letterpress printed exhibition poster by graphic designer and letterpress printmaker Dafi Kühne. The project examines and interpolates the two most produced chairs of all time; the Thonet bentwood chair, and the Monobloc chair.

The Thonet bentwood chair was the most produced chair worldwide before the 1960s. It was exported from Germany, but also produced all over the world in many variations. Since the 1960s, the Monobloc chair has been the most produced. Originally a designer piece and expensive to buy, today it only costs €2.50 to make, and takes approximately 2.5kg of plastic and 2 seconds to produce. The exhibition worked with the traditions of the two chairs, but used recycled PVC to 3D print a new piece.

“For the exhibition poster, I wanted to morph the two forms in a very simple way” says Dafi. He cut both chairs from linoleum, however since the Thonet chair has a wicker weaved seat, Dafi had to find a way to cut these very fine textures into linoleum. He explains; “I liked the idea of a half-analogue and half-digital process… so I lasercut the seat into the linoleum. Parts of the chairs are cut manually, while the wicker weaving is lasercut. This contrast in quality is what really fascinates me in manual printing.” 

The colours of the poster were inspired by the recycled PVC material. Dafi used a bright poppy red, on top of a green matte recycled paper (Forever smaragdgrün 210g/m2), and needed 14 print runs to get full coverage and a full gloss result. “I know in silkscreen this would have been much easier. But then again, I am interested in the hand-cut linoleum for the outlines of the chairs” states the designer. He printed 60 posters on a Grafix GX4N in spring 2020, and is currently finishing a second edition, due to popular demand.

The posters work in both orientations and can be rotated by 180°. They were hung up (and sold) in the Turboblock Nr. 8 exhibition in Paris last February. Dafi concludes; “In my opinion, the posters look anything but letterpress printed – and that’s what I am interested in: to push the boundaries of an old technology, connect the analogue quality with modern design, and be able to autonomously produce everything from the first sketch to the final print.” 

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