This chair embodies a design challenge: How to infuse elegance into a brutalist square-shaped pine chair? Challenge accepted, and here's the elegant result.
Originally slated for exhibition at ICFF in New York, a prestigious opportunity curated by WantedDesign alongside 60 designers from across the globe—something that held immense personal significance. However, due to my birthplace, I encountered barriers that denied me entry to the country.
Now, perhaps you wonder what country and why? Let me share a glimpse into my background: I come from a small but breathtaking village nestled among mountains and green hills. It's a place I've never had the joy to experience fully because of the war between Iran and Iraq. A conflict that forced me to move to a refugee camp in Iraq, where I spent my first 13 years - a life that has forged my foundation and my ethics. The same conflict has left my internationally unrecognized homeland in its wake. I'm Kurdish, born in a region where countless generations of Kurds have thrived, yet it falls under the flag of the Iranian regime, and unfortunately a regime well-known for its brutality and oppression against minorities, and a historical adversary of the United States. But let's not delve too deep into politics! I simply can't do more than raising a voice as a Swedish designer with Kurdish origin, or is it a Kurdish designer with a 'haven' in Sweden...?
The light side of this story is: amidst these challenges, we've created something truly special - a stunning, no-nonsense chair that defies boundaries and captures the essence of 'Elegance in Pine,' and with a story to tell.
Design has a way of transcending borders and telling stories.
