Quan’er Chair

The chair is an abstraction of our memories.

In China, in the old days, every family seems to own a traditional round chair (or Quan Chair) in their courtyard. It was usually a courtyard covered with thick greens. The chair had been sitting in a corner for a very long time. Nobody knew its existence. But as if it had always been there.

The memory of this chair brought us the idea to re-make a round chair in a modern way. In Chinese culture, round chair was always made of rare and expensive wood. It was a symbol of the owner’s wealth and social identity. In our opinion though, the new chair should be quite different. We used a continuous, curved metal tube to frame, and metal nets to make the back and seat. These are industrial materials, cheap and easy-to-get. It was our intension to limit the craftmanship in a rough and simple way. The chair is both traditional and modern. It can be placed indoor or outdoor, used in multiple scenarios in modern life. The stereotypes of a traditional Round Chair, had disappeared.

It could be nice to have this chair to be placed in a courtyard. Like in our memories, whether it was used or not, it always keeps itself open. When the vines and mosses climb throughout its body, it looks as if the nature takes it back from the ownership of mankind. the chair can no longer be defined as a piece of furniture, it becomes part of the landscape.