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’
KUENG CAPUTO(4)
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..could be interesting if further developed and refined, still seems very experimental… maybe the foam surfaces could be hand-finished into a smooth, flowing plane…great pieces are the result of an ever-evolving process…
formally & conceptually brilliant. Can’t wait to go see it on display today!
You’ve done it again Designboom!
Yet another timeless classic that isn’t a a complete waste of materials!
Great job!
Stix, well put, also people have to get over disliking something the first time they see it, just take it in because down the road it may become a favorite. It’s happens to us all, you have to give it time it may be ahead of where you are.
I wish we would all just look past the fact that someone else has done something similar before hand. Everything is influenced by something else, so of course in every project there are going to be characteristics which are familiar to us.
Sure, there is no doubt that the use of polyurethane foam has been exercised by Jerszy Symour, but this idea of sandwiching with the material is different.
oooook…
do you call this design??!!!
go fishing!
Whatever…
Jerszy Seymour does it better… and since a long time.
horror