Charlotte Kingsnorth – Babafelt Chair (2012)
The designer Charlotte Kingsnorth (1985) declares that ‘I am all about organic curves. (…) I am not really a fan of straight lines’. Her Babafelt chair (and all versions of it) is an invitation to cocoon in the thick merino wool felt. The wool fibres are mechanically pressed through the use of heat and softly folded in the walnut timber structure made by craftsman, creating a form that accompanies the movements of the body while wrapping it in a kind of hug. There is a picture of Bill Gates in the cover of a British newspaper sitting in a Babafelt and it seems very comfortable indeed. Charlotte Kingsnorth is a London-based designer who cares for ecological materials with a long lasting life. She explores the materials tactility to sculpt her pieces of furniture usually giving it asymmetrical biomorphic shapes in metaphoric allusions to the bonds between people and their seats, be it a chair or a sofa. The designer emphasizes her reinterpretation of furniture shaping forms and choosing materials by imagining the intertwining between the user and the furniture piece that might be developed over time of use.
Author: Fátima Pombo
