The Reclamation Chair | 2021
Research informs Making
Role
Designer, Creative Direction, Critical Thinker, Story Teller
Research informs Making
Role
Designer, Creative Direction, Critical Thinker, Story Teller
When asked to design a chair, Natalia Fernandez and I began to contemplate the iconography and implicit power structures of the chairs around us. The reclamation chair is an introspective look at how we might contended with the many violences with our institutions.
CONTEXT
Parsons School of Design
The Bellini Chair is commonplace within the School of Constructed Environments at Parsons School of Design. It is present in our classrooms and our studios, wedged inbetween us and our education. The Bellini Chair, for us, embodies the undercurrent of discomfort often hidden beneath the sleek facade of ‘good design’.
Room 201, School of Constructed Environments
Parson School of Design, New York, NY
Furniture Design
The female body, in the history of furniture design, has often been a site of fetishization and fantasy. Half naked and spread across his sofa, Mario Bellini turns the body of a woman into a fantasy about his couch. Here the model and the couch serve the same purpose, placeholders for male sexual desire.
Questions we asked ourselves
What does it mean to be asked to sit uncomfortably?
What is the extended touch of the designer?
What are the values of our constructed environment?
Do they serve us?
MAKING SPACE
Forming a Relationship with a Chair
Inspired by 100 ways of Sitting by Ari Elefterin, we began to have a conversation with a chair. Fitting out bodies into and out of the structures of the chair,
Inspired by 100 ways of Sitting by Ari Elefterin, we began to have a conversation with a chair. Fitting out bodies into and out of the structures of the chair,
Contending with the Chair
With immense gratitude to Gregory Beson for creating endless space for our rebellion, and to Ari Eleftering for adding gravity to our rage, creativity and hope.
Collaboration with:
Natalia Fernandez, Maker & Dancer
Credits:
Joyce Xu, Photo Assist
Natalia Fernandez, Photo Assist
Collaboration with:
Natalia Fernandez, Maker & Dancer
Credits:
Joyce Xu, Photo Assist
Natalia Fernandez, Photo Assist