When can we talk about art more than furnishing objects? Design, by its very definition, carries on the characteristic of reproducibility, antithesis of art. But if this could have been true at first, the evolution of industrial design meant that the furnishings could become the expression of an idea and manifesto for a change as well. It happens that craft does not only means refinement of the production, but it is also a tool for telling the thinking behind design and achieve the uniqueness that distinguishes artworks. The object on which new designers/artists reflect is that with which design history has begun: the chair. Frank Tjepkema, founder of the Dutch study Tjep, offers a collection of chairs using traditional handcrafting techniques to transform the material that represents the dawn of civilization: bronze. As opposed to new technologies, such as 3D printing, Tjep creates chairs that show how bronze is sustainable because it can be reused over and over again, in a result that looks more like sculpture than furniture. Also in Brazil they worked on metal: Ronald Scliar Sasson, in collaboration with Sergio Bertti, realizes the Zózimo seat, which celebrates the work of journalist Zózimo Barrozo do Amaral, witness to the golden years of Rio. For this reson the look is the one of 50s/60s design, brought in copper and bronze. From Berlin comes a retelling of a classic material for chairs, rattan, of which designers of Hettler.Tüllmann enhanced its stability and elasticity, to create a wrap-around design that excludes the need of cushions or other accessories to the material. A completely different reflection finally is Fabio Novembre’s, when he designed And for Vondom. Interaction is the primary intent, imagining a spatial concept that translates into a spiral volume, as if to tell the emotional turmoil of a look between two people multiplied ad infinitum.
