Forgoing fiberglass / carbon mats

Gregor Uhlmann, CO33 CEO & Designer: "There are currently many approaches on the market in which concrete furniture is manufactured: textile concrete, putty concrete, concrete look, fiber concrete with various fibers and nets made of glass, PVC and carbon. Each type of production reaches a different goal, a different look, color and shape.

For me, the question of which of these variants I would like to use for my furniture has not been asked. My ‘concrete solution’ came to me when all of these possibilities were not yet available to the current extent.

For many years, as a skilled carpenter, I mainly produced precast concrete elements and in 2014 I got the task for my first concrete furniture design.

What were my requirements for this first concrete furniture?

- Stable properties
- low weight despite ‘real’ concrete with a density of 2.5
- a perfect surface: smooth and non-porous
- organic form to emerge from the typical appearance of concrete
- Exposed concrete quality from almost all sides

What did I need for this?

- a perfect casting mold
- a perfect recipe that brings the stable engineering properties
- No reinforcement, as a permanent concrete covering cannot be achieved with low material thicknesses
- A flowable mixture that forms little voids (pores)

The solution for my concrete furniture is a ‘high-performance concrete from the expert’ - UHPC concrete (ultra high performance concrete), which is as thick as glass and for which I have developed my own recipe.

What does my concrete do?

Durable and sustainable concrete furniture

- which is still light enough to carry (mostly) by hand
- which is permanently armed against the weather
- which due to the very dense concrete stone structure, the surface is extremely smooth and low in
  cracks and cavities = ‘optical excellence’
- which is suitable for indoor as well as outdoor use
- has exposed concrete quality from all sides, as the filling side is very narrow
- which is non-flammable and can be used as fire-safe furniture"

Furniture made of normal concrete

In addition to the furniture of the OPUS collection, there is now also a whole range of other modern concrete furniture in a classic angular design. These pieces made of normal concrete also meet the highest quality standards of appearance and feel that every product of the CO33 brand must have. To meet the static requirements of some furniture of this design, I also use conventional reinforcing steel or fibers.