Foam cutting at Ligne Roset.
In Briord, in the foam-cutting shop, Nathalie Salguet, with nearly twenty-five years’ experience, processes, shapes and cuts, with to-the-millimetre precision, impressive blocks of foam. She then extracts pieces in a variety of shapes and densities which will eventually adorn, much like a 3D puzzle, emblematic models from the collection like the mythical Togo, which is about to adopt sustainable foams, or
Sandra, which has just been reissued to mark its fiftieth anniversary.
For more than twenty years, Nathalie Salguet has been « sculpting » the foams which bring shape to Ligne Roset’s emblematic seating. Her craft marries technicality, versatility and to-the-millimetre precision. « My first action on arriving, each morning, is to switch on my machine, she says. I check the descent of the blade, my tray, my road map, and we’re off. » On this particular day, she is working on the W21, one of the newest machines in the workshop. Tomorrow it will be different. « As everything is done to order, she explains, it’s very varied. We never do the same thing twice. » The templates, designed by the R&D department, act as a guide. Precision is essential : a vague cut would compromise the way in which the final piece fits together and the comfort of the model. « If the foam is poorly adjusted, by just a couple of millimetres, it will be impossible to fit the cover », insists Nathalie.
Foam cutting, the unsung hero of comfort
For each model, everything starts with huge blocks of raw foam « which are first decrusted », explains Nathalie by showing the hardened skin which formed naturally as the material was being moulded. The blocks then go from machine to machine : some
« swallow » blocks several hundred kilos in weight to cut them, others perforate like a die cutter, others laser-cut shapes with pinpoint accuracy using exclusive templates. Everything is regulated, parametered and calibrated with extreme precision, by computer, to extract the maximum number of pieces from each block. It’s a question of optimisation and waste reduction.
More complex still, all the blocks are not identical in density and cannot therefore be treated in the same way. This, by the way, is one of the greatest house specialities: harnessing the combination of a broad array of foams (sourced from a very local supplier) to obtain perfect comfort. And each model has its own particular combination from the foams available: a kind of high-precision 3D puzzle.
Icons reinvented by foam
An icon designed by Michel Ducaroy in 1973, Togo is one of the things which makes Nathalie particularly proud. She literally knows its shape and the variations in density of each component part by heart. « Of the ten or so foams available in the workshop, we use three to six to make it », she says. Some of these, described as combustion modified or fire retardant, are used in the hotel industry for example. Others offer a greater variety of softness. The final customer can thus select their comfort, without ever betraying the original silhouette of the piece. This year, Togo is preparing to introduce new, sustainable foams beneath its covers, most notably to respond to environmental issues. A revolution which will change neither the way in which the foam is cut, nor the way in which it is assembled, but which
represents a considerable technical challenge for the R&D teams who will need to ensure that the comfort remains identical.
A challenge rendered yet more complex since «we don’t find the same foam on the back, the middle or the rounded front section, she explains enthusiastically. We must also take into account the side sections which give the model its shape ». It’s all a myth to be kept up. Same complexity, different technique with Sandra, a reissue of an Annie Hiéronimus model from 1975, the structure of which requires the use of elements which have been pre-moulded and preformed outside the workshop. Nathalie’s job is then to adjust all of these with meticulous precision, according to the day’s monitoring form. « I’m still working on Sandra, I haven’t yet done everything I need to », reports Nathalie. She soon will have. Besides, Nathalie is already thinking about her next challenge : training on the recentlyinstalled 2D machine. The only one which still escapes her...
