kueng caputo: dolce vita chair

‘dolce vita chair’ photo by marcus gaab

swiss-born partnership kueng caputo (lovis caputo and sarah keung) practice design with an emphasis on understatements and a bit of improvisation. their ‘dolce vita chair’ is a continuation of their previous ‘sandwich chairs’, which takes four classic horgenglarus (oldest chair and table manufacturer in switzerland) chairs and sandwiches them, hamburger-style, with foam offcuts.

kueng caputo wanted to take the theme of doubling and excess one step further by reducing the ‘elegant’ variety to a simpler and more banal form with two ubiquitous, mass produced, monobloc plastic chairs sandwiched together by a more primitive filling of polyurethane foam. they liked the idea that the chairs are both attractive and repulsive. they are the ‘mega-tart’ and ‘moldy-mountain’ in one: dolce vita.

detail of the plastic monobloc chairs sandwiched together with polyurethane foam

‘dolce vita’ is currently on show as part of ‘freak show: strategies for (dis) engagement in design at the helmrinderknecht contemporary design, berlin until january 15th, 2011.

prototype / process image

prototype / process image

kueng caputo’s previous ‘sandwich chairs’ which were the starting point for ‘dolce vita’