For designers, chairs are a ritual of initiation. For chair design more than that of any other object, human beings are the unit of measure, and designers walk a fine line between standardization and personalization. Among the hundreds of chairs in MoMA’s collection, Yoshioka’s Honey-Pop Armchair is one of the most unusual, since it manages to fulfill both criteria. Entirely made of the type of paper honeycomb that is used in Chinese lanterns, this chair starts out flat, just like a lantern. Once peeled open, accordion-style, it accepts the impression of the body of whoever first sits on it.
Gallery label from Applied Design, March 2, 2013–January 31, 2014.
