The Beam Lounge Chair is part of Marquel Williams's first furniture collection, Beams, produced by CALIPER in Madrid as a limited run through their Editions Programme. The collection takes the structural I-beam as its starting point: a component patented in 1849 and refined across nearly 2 centuries of industrial production to become the most standardized of all structural elements. Williams uses it not as a ready-made but as a formal vocabulary, combining angled I-beams with laser-cut aluminum plates to produce a furniture system that includes a chair, chaise lounge, desk, floor lamp, and lounge chair.
All pieces in the collection are finished with a wax treatment, which brings out the industrial character of the steel rather than smoothing it over. The Beam Lounge Chair carries 2 upholstered leather cushions, seated within the I-beam frame. Custom fabric options are available on request. The leather introduces softness and warmth where the steel is angular and hard, but the frame is always visible as the primary structural and visual element.
The I-beam as furniture has a precedent in Enzo Mari's 1958 Putrella for Danese, where the simple structural profile was taken as found. Williams's approach differs: the beams are cut and angled, the aluminum plates laser-cut with precision, and the system is scaled and proportioned for domestic use across multiple typologies. The collection is available in a limited run.
