Marco Sousa Santos – Shell Chair (2009)

The wooden lounge Shell Chair designed by the Portuguese Marco Sousa Santos (1962) is a hand-assembled piece made out of plywood. Green dot awarded the chair is made out of an array of wooden pieces disperse into a cocoon shape and supported by organically emerging legs. Its ribs are designed with the intention to hold pillows and cushion which would adjust to different persons’ body shape while allowing each user to personalize their own seating arrangement.It appears to be a shell and its form evolves like a natural body composed by vertebra and spine, working as natural force and weight distribution. The birch plywood is digitally cut and then each piece is hand assembled by Portuguese artisans incorporating both modern and traditional techniques. As Marco Sousa Santos explains, the goal is to unite “Portuguese craftsmanship traditions with contemporary aesthetics (…) to reignite the bygone era when products were developed with patience, expertise, knowledge and integrity, aiming to truly reach the level of a high-end international product brand.”

 

Author: Fátima Pombo

Photo: https://www.designboom.com/design/marco-sousa-santos-shell-chair/[accessed 22 April 2019]