Living Space

MULTIPURPOSE FURNITURE, 2010
LIMITED EDITION OF 12

268 (l) x 50 (w) x 70 (h) cm
Solid Mahogany wood tinted in black and rattan

Sculptural yet practical, this piece does it all. A combination of lounger, coffee table, stool and magazine rack, it is more than furniture and almost verges on architecture. Developed for an exhibition for pop-up gallery, Carwan based on the theme of creating contemporary furniture using traditional know-how, the piece takes the rattan panels once commonly used in Lebanon to make café-trottoir chairs and its embroidered cushion references the half, the quilt-blanket used in Lebanese mountain houses in the winter. Living Space III feels like a reminder of an earlier era, some recently-discovered example of radical design from the 1920’s or 30’s perhaps, even as in shape and conception, it is very clearly of today. Sanded in places, notably at the head and feet, where the wood takes on a brownish rather a black color, the chair conveys an impression of use, even though it is brand new.