Six years building a printer. Eight prototypes. 124 hours of printing.

Resolute Chair

QUESTION NO. 100-2014-06

WHAT IF YOU COULD 3D PRINT A CHAIR?

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It was an ambitious question. One that would take us six years to answer.

Budmen Industries
Not a miniature. Not a prototype. A full-sized, functional chair that could hold a person. A chair that took advantage of what 3D printing does best—complex forms, curved shapes, layer-by-layer growth—without fighting the process.
Redefining craft for the 21st century
Budmen Progress 3D printer - version 8

The Pursuit

By the time we were ready to print a chair, we had been working on the Progress printer for the better part of six years. We were on version 7 or 8 of the machine. Dozens of prototypes. Years of refinement.
We had printed stools. We had printed the All of the Lights installation—100 unique lamps. We knew the machine could handle scale and complexity.
But a chair was different. Where a stool took 4 hours, we knew a chair would take upwards of 80 to 100 hours. More material. More time. More ways for something to go wrong over such a long print.
And the design constraints were different too.

The Problem with Chairs

With the stools, we could print them upside down—producing that nice flat surface for someone to sit on as the first layer, then building the support structure upward.
That wasn't going to work for a chair. A chair needs a back. You can't print it upside down.
We also didn't want to use support material. Support material is scaffolding—extra plastic printed underneath overhangs that gets thrown away after. It's wasteful. It adds time. It leaves marks where it's removed.
Tree showing root system, trunk, and canopy structure

Nature's self-supporting structure

We needed a form that could support itself as it printed. Layer by layer, no scaffolding, no waste.
This seemed like a problem nature had already solved. We looked for inspiration.
We found it in trees.
Trees have strong root systems. They grow to great heights without needing any scaffolding or support. They branch out into incredible canopies—all while supporting their own weight, through wind and weather.
Resolute Chair showing similar root-trunk-canopy structure

The same principle applied to a chair

The Roots

A wide base providing stability and anchoring the chair. The foundation that everything else grows from.

The Trunk

The central support column, rising vertically from the roots. This is where most of the person's weight is transferred.

The Canopy

Branches spreading outward and upward, creating the seat platform and back support. Each branch supports the next layer.
CAD wireframe model of Resolute Chair showing tree structure

Growing a Chair

We worked through dozens of concepts and sketches. The challenge was finding the perfect balance: aesthetically pleasing, structurally sound, and printable without support material.
Using CAD software, we iterated. We ran weight simulations—could it hold 250+ pounds? We tested angles—would the back provide enough support? We adjusted proportions—did it look like furniture or just an interesting sculpture?
Several iterations later, we had a form that felt right. Visually captivating. Strong enough to hold a person. Ready to print.
THOUGHTS ON TREES
The tree structure wasn't chosen for aesthetics, though it is beautiful. It was chosen because it solved our core constraint: how to 3D print a chair without support material.
Form follows function. Function follows the process.
CAD wireframe model of Resolute Chair showing tree structure

124 Hours of Layers

We fired up the Progress printer.
The Resolute Chair was printed with a large nozzle, creating thick, chunky layers. This reduced the print time—but 124 hours is still 124 hours.
Five days. Layer after layer after layer.
Roots forming first, anchoring to the print bed. The trunk rising slowly. Branches spreading outward, each layer supporting the next, no scaffolding needed.
We watched it grow. Checked on it. Monitored temperatures, speeds, adhesion. Over such a long print, any small issue could compound into failure.
When it finished, we carefully removed it from the printer. It stood. It held its shape.
The print lines were very visible—thick layers create dramatic striations, like tree bark, like geological strata. We liked this aesthetic. It showed the process, celebrated the layer-by-layer nature of 3D printing.
But to emphasize the smooth shapes and clean curves we'd designed, we made a choice: we would hand-sand the chair.
Resolute Chair 50% printed - trunk rising

50% - Trunk growing

Team member hand-sanding the Resolute Chair

Hours More Work

Our team meticulously hand-sanded the chair for hours after it finished printing. The heat from the sanding friction softened the plastic slightly, allowing the print lines to blend and merge. Layer lines disappeared. A unified surface emerged.
When the sanding was complete, we applied a specially formulated structural resin—the same coating we'd developed for the Scoria Stools. This gave the chair a distinct textured finish, added strength, and protected the structure from damage.

The chair was complete.

Resolute Chair front view showing full tree structure
Resolute Chair front view showing full tree structure
Resolute Chair side profile
Resolute Chair side profile
Resolute Chair three-quarter view
Resolute Chair three-quarter view

Resolute

res·o·lute | adjective
Purposeful, determined, and unwavering.
The Resolute Chair gets its name from our six-year pursuit to design and build a 3D printer that could reliably print a functional, full-sized chair.
When we set out to make this machine, we never imagined it would take dozens of prototypes, years in the making, to get it just right. With each prototype, the results improved. But it wasn't until we had built a machine that met our unwavering standards for reliable performance and superior print quality that we finally printed this chair.
This was the result of a multiyear pursuit, a lot of uncertainty, and the persistence of asking questions.
When it came off the printer after 124 hours, we knew what to call it.
Resolute.
Six years from question to answer. Resolute.
Resolute Chair Project

What a Chair Taught Us

Six years. Eight versions of a printer. Dozens of prototypes. Hundreds of hours of printing, testing, iterating. We started with a question: What if you could 3D print a chair?We learned:
Questions require tools
We couldn't ask this question until we'd built the machine that could answer it
Constraints drive creativity
The limitation of no support material led us directly to the tree structure
Nature solves problems
Trees had already figured out how to grow complex cantilevered structures without scaffolding
Process creates form
The chair looks the way it does because of how it was made, not despite it
Persistence matters
Six years from question to answer. Resolute.
The Resolute Chair isn't just a chair we 3D printed. It's proof that we built a machine capable of 3D printing a chair. It's the answer to the question we spent six years asking.
And it's a new question: Now that we can print a chair, what else can we print?
Project Data
Title Resolute Chair
Year 2016
Category Furniture
Technology Large-scale FDM 3D printing (Budmen Progress™)
Materials PLA (biodegradable plastic), structural resin coating
Print Time 124 hours
Development Time 6 years
Printer Versions 8 iterations of the Progress printer
Finish Hand-sanded, resin-coated with textured finish
Weight Capacity 250+ lbs
Design Principle Biomimicry - tree structure (roots, trunk, canopy)
Status One-of-one piece

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Collaborators

Isaac Budmen Budmen Industries team

Tags

3D printing furniture design biomimicry persistence large-scale printing