Wooden animal-shaped puzzle with layered pieces, centered within a white oval frame.

TOM WOOF

Ron Arad’s iconic Tom Vac chair reimagined with a bit of wit

FOR CLERKENWELL DESIGN WEEK

Layered wooden sculpture of a pig's face, with a circular hole on each side for the eyes and a snout in the center, placed inside a circular, rippled white frame.

As part of a Clerkenwell Design Week 2014 exhibition, we re-envisioned Ron Arad’s iconic Tom Vac chair with a bit of humour. Entitled, Tailor My Tom Vac, the show comprised a collection of 23 reinterpretations of Arad’s original design each created by leading architecture and design studios.

Our idea stemmed from a flippant comment; someone in our office noted that Arad’s chair is reminiscent of a conical dog collar. We couldn’t get the idea out of our head… so we ran with it.

Silhouettes of various animals, including a dog, fish, frog, and turtle, arranged on a black background.
A wooden dog sculpture with a large, white, shell-like structure on its back that resembles a flower or a bowl, with a stylized wooden dog mask inside.

KIT OF PARTS

Tom Woof was CNC cut and then assembled.

Wooden pig-shaped puzzle piece with ears, eyes, nose, and tongue, floating in a white container.

“I don’t think anyone here thinks they are doing a new version of Tom Vac. They are doing a comment – a piece in its own right. They have a common element. They all observe or play with the Tom Vac. They see things that we haven’t seen before – I’ve never seen it as a dog collar!”

- Ron Arad in interview with the Architectural Review

Wooden lion head sculpture with layered and cutout details.
Three people in a workspace assembling or examining a large, segmented model of a dinosaur skeleton, made of lightweight plastic or foam, on a wooden floor.

TAKING TOM WOOF FOR A WALK

We created a 1:1 mock up to test the scale, form and stability of Tom Woof.

A French Bulldog wearing an Elizabethan collar, known as a cone, with its head slightly tilted upwards.

LOCATION

London

RESEARCH THEMES

Design development, model making, play

STATUS

Completed in 20xx

CLIENT

Clerkenwell Design Week 2014