Pine, also known as "Ikea wood", has been contrasted in the "Precious chair" with some of the most expensive tropical wood, Amaranth, Pink Ivory and Brasilian rosewood.
Roles are defined from the beginning.
Pine has been treated as a construction element: the composition of the pine sticks is the consequence of a rational engineering process that take care of the usual problems of the builduing construction, as forces, weight, tickness of material,...
The application of the tropical wood, since is harder and stronger, has the purpose to reinforce connections, the weakest part of a structure. All the pieces are worked by hand, conceptually compared with precious stone.
Do differents qualities of material belong to differents social classes?
Thinking about the target for who this chair has been designed: The add of the tropical wood connections increase the cost of it, making it not affordable for the "ikea" target. On the other hand the choice of the pine wood, and the way it has been used, gives a look not acceptable for the classy target who normally prefer expensive woods.
The contrast made by the two different qualities of wood touches two opposite target, and two opposite social classes, but at the same time is excluding both.
"The precious chair" has been made for those people open-minded, not frightened by a new language that doesn't belong to a defined social class, but to more than just one.
Project made at ECAL, June 2011
