new york based artist mohamad kanaan forms series of mirror chairs

new york based artist mohamad kanaan forms series of mirror chairs
all images courtesy of mohamad kanaan

new york based architect-turned-artist mohamad kanaan has incorporated mirrors into a collection of three chairs in his ‘mirror series’. accompanying the seats–named ‘nothing’, ‘youth’, and ‘house’–are poems narrating a personal story that influenced each piece. the reflected surfaces skew the object’s formal expectations, veiling and unveiling elements of space, the body, and artifact itself.

‘youth’ in rotation

each unit becomes a three-dimensional object in a temporal sense, intertwining the pasts, presents, and futures of both chair and sitter. mirrors swivel and rotate in different dimensions–vertically and horizontally–just as memories move and distort based on infinite variables in the mind. 

‘youth’–maple, mirrored glass (16 x 16 x 35 1/2 inches)

three elements intersect within each seat: the anatomy of the chair, the body’s engagement, and the physical and mental experience resulting from the combination. the ‘mirror series’ challenges established notions of how form, body, and memory are structured. manipulation of seemingly set parameters change presumed outcomes drastically, altering the object and user in unexpected, memorable ways. 

‘youth’ front

3/4 view

‘nothing’–walnut, mirrored glass (16 x 16 x 32 1/2 inches)

‘nothing’ side view 

reflected surface 

‘house’–walnut, mirrored glass (16 x 16 x 33 1/2 inches)

reflected leg in mirror

‘house’ side view 

from opposite, solid wood side 

designboom has received this project through its ‘DIY submissions’ feature, which welcomes readers to submit their own work for publication. see more designboom readers submissions here.