When all's said and done Marcel Breuer's 1927 Wassily Chair is nothing more than a couple of bits of material stretched over a metal frame.
Giandomenico Belotti's 1960 Spaghetti Chair is nothing more than some PVC cord stretched over a metal frame
And so on first impressions there is nothing new about "Upholstered Chair" by Jooyeon Lee.
Damn those first impressions...............
Created as her Diploma project at the Aalto University Helsinki, "Upholstered Chair" is a lounger created from linen strings stretched over a wooden frame.
As we say in principle nothing new; however, what is interesting is the thinking behind it and the logic in the material choice.
Linen string can be produced practically everywhere, and is a natural material that can be locally cultivated.
As is wood.
Which not only means that the chair can be decentrally produced and distributed, but also creates local jobs in both agriculture and traditional crafts.
All very much in the spirit of Franz Dietrich's "Neue Fertigung" manifesto we mentioned earlier.
Local farmers produce the raw materials, one local craftsman makes the wooden parts, another makes the string and a local producer combines it all into chairs. Which the local community buy and use.
Reduced transport pollution, local economy supported, and even a little CO2 sucked out the atmosphere. Everyone's a winner baby!
Especially given the highly attractive, if equally simple, form language of the piece.
As we've said before, we see the future of the global furniture industry as being in de-centralised production, and objects such as "Upholstered Chair" by Jooyeon Lee provide an interesting example of where the journey might just be taking us.
