Object
Cross Cultural Chairs: India
Cross Cultural Chairs: India
‘We wear the same shoes, listen to the same playlists, and watch the same films,’ says designer Matteo Guarnaccia. ‘But do we also use the same chairs? Do we sit in the same way?’ Driven by these questions and by his curiosity regarding production methods and how globalisation is affecting design, Guarnaccia travelled around the world to visit the eight most densely populated countries. In each country he stayed for one month. Once arrived, Guarnaccia crisscrossed metropoles and villages, visited markets and museums, and talked to the local inhabitants about their customs and habits, local politics and history – sometimes using hand and feet. This way he was able to form a picture of a country’s culture in a short space of time, with a keen awareness of his limited perspective as a (western) outsider. Working with local designers, he then translated that image into a design that had to result in a real chair within that same month, including a photo shoot and presentation. After all, on the first day of the next month Guarnaccia would fly off to his next destination. Guarnaccia started in Brazil and went on to visit Mexico, Japan, Indonesia, China, India, Russia and Nigeria. After eight intensive months, he returned home with eight different chairs as eight portraits of a country.
India’s most iconic chair, designed by Pirojsha Godrej, was inspired by the steel tube chair of the German designer Marcel Breuer, from 1925. Guarnaccia’s observation that many Indians like to sit with one leg drawn up resulted in arm rests designed to more easily accommodate this position. The handwoven seat is based on the webbing that has been used for centuries for the traditional charpai (a type of lounge bed).
[text 2023]- Title
- Cross Cultural Chairs: India
- Dating
- 2018-01-01 - 2018-12-31
- Object number
- 35658/006
- Collection
- toegepaste kunst
- Technique
- metaal, textiel
- Dimensions
- hoogte 79 cm
- breedte 61.5 cm
- diepte 50 cm
- Acquisition
- aankoop met steun van de VriendenLoterij (2022)
- Inscriptions and marks
- :
- Rights
- Collectie Centraal Museum Utrecht / foto Adriaan van Dam
- Documentation
- Stoel neemt stelling, Inl. Bart Rutten, redactie Esther Darley, Natalie Dubois, Hans Schopping, auteurs Laurie Cluitmans, Catharina van Daalen, Esther Darley, Natalie Dubois, Bart Rutten, Anne van der Zwaag, Centraal Museum (Utrecht, 2023), 24 p.
- Cross Cultural Chairs: Diversifying Modern Seating, Ed. Guarnaccia, Matteo, text: FormaFantasma, Aldo Cibic, Tulio Amarante, ... [et al], Onomatopee (Eindhoven, 2020), 384 p.
