paola navone: euphoria for eumenes

the 'eu/phoria' project, a chair designed by italian designer paola navone for italian company eumenes transforms a material
typically used in the automotive sector - for car interiors - and translates it into the form of a comfortable monocoque shell seat.

the material is called woodstock®, a compound of polypropylene and powdered wood that comes in hardwearing
and flexible thermoformable sheets. beyond its use as an industrial material, eumenes dedicated itself to
research fabrics that can be bonded to the shell to glue and cut it perfectly flush to the form during moulding,
and which can be matched with soft polyurethane.

customers can select desired patterns from a range of fabrics compatible to the industrial process adopted
in the chair's production. navone has selected a synthetic textile to personalize 'eu/phoria',
reminiscent of mass manufactured, plaid, nylon shopping bags - in check, striped or tartan effect.
the imperfections and creases of this particular version called 'made to measure', adds a little bit of a tongue-in-cheek effect,
revealing its playful, provocative and anti-conformist nature.

besides 'made to measure', the chair is available in four other versions: basic - seat in plain woodstock®;
tech - seat in woodstock® bonded to three-dimensional automobile fabric; soft - seat in woodstock®
bonded to rubberized technical fabric; fashion - seat in woodstock® bonded to alcantara® material, a aumenes partner.

the chair's support structure is painted steel and comes in 8 color variants. customers can create desired combinations
by matching the supporting base in their desired color with any covering from the range. this gives users the opportunity
to pair the color of the seat with the supporting frame, giving it a different look each time. while two-tone is always in vogue,
original contrasts and combinations suffuse this chameleonic chair with new energy and unexpected verve.

the exterior design of eumenes' presentation featured panels of the striped and plaid nylon fabric used in navone's
chair design, to create a shaded space where visitors could rest away from the hustle and bustle of the zona tortona area.

image © designboom