With guests artists: Akt One, Crok One, Mafs, Oscar Wilson, Pete Fowler, Remi Morgan, Sarah Wilson, Steff Plaetz, Tom Messenger and Will Barras.

Chairfix breaks away from habitual definitions of discipline. It illustrates an open-ended approach towards furniture design that draws on fashion and art as much as it does on design, and results in pieces of furniture that may go into low cost development or keep and increase their value as unassembled unique panels.

The chair is produced by a straightforward application of cutting into a flat plywood sheet, supported by a computerized process allowing for a controlled balance of the depth of the cutting leaving little bridges that keep the parts in place. The chair is delivered flat and easily assembled on location. The parts snap out and slot into a rigid structure, a clever slotting detail creating a springy shape that eliminates the need for glue or fixtures.

For this exhibition Ben Wilson approached ten artists to work directly onto the flat plywood panels. This gives the objects a double life, first as a flat panel piece of art and then in the unexpected combinations that occur when the parts are assembled.

The idea of simple 2-d cut parts put together into a functioning chair is a not a new design concept, but clever detailing and the demonstration of ‘democratic’ potential that the addition of surface artwork creates, combine into an exciting contribution to contemporary attitudes in product design.

The Chairfix chair, stool and bench are a lively demonstration of design with mass production potential used as a canvas for elaborate expression by artistic mediators and end users. This echoes timely ‘open source’ attitudes of collaborative authorship.

Curator: Daniel Charny
Gallery Director: Zeev Aram