USIGNER THEORY
The Re-Korsy is an experimental installation exhibited in Cairo Design week 2010 which consists of 3 seating families “Shisha, aluminum and tyre”. The common element in the 3 families is Thonet chair “A’hwa chair” dyed in black; while re-using traditional products in a different way, giving them a new function and form to serve as urban furniture in old Cairo.
The main goal of the installation is to test the applicability of the Usigner Theory as a successful design method that can be used to design public elements.
The metal table wear family.
The Shisha family.
The tyre family.
User + Designer = Usigner
The idea of the Usigner theory is in engaging the public user in the design and manufacturing process through their ideas, efforts and materials 50-50 with the designer “participatory design approach”; to help defining the responsibility toward the public elements and improve a unique image of Cairo.
Since the public user is not sensing any ownership nor has any sense of belonging toward urban spaces; the public elements are neglected and no one to take the responsibility for their maintenance. However, one can find simple details that people have improvised in public spaces which can reflect a true creativity that needs to be framed and presented as the new identity of Cairo.
We started out by observing how people sit as well as where and on what. No matter how destroyed something is, the users always had a way of fixing things to make it usable. Also, all over the place we found one kind of chair scattered around. These two things together gave us the idea of which structure to use.
The 3 shops that were chosen to experiment the usigner theory with:
The Shop owners participated with their ideas, materials and efforts. This gave them the sense of belonging and attachment towards the products.
Here are some pictures of the Thonet Chairs after undergoing the usigner theory for each shop:
