The thoughts behind Artek's stand designed by Shideh Shaygan

Shideh Shaygan

– For Artek’s stand at the Stockholm Furniture Fair 2020 I wanted to put the brand new “Rope Chair” designed by the Bouroullecs in the Seat of Honour in a throne room. Literally. At the centre of the installation you find two black version of the chairs, like the king and the queen, with the main constructive element of the chair, the rope, spilling out in an elaborate gesture, like the train of a royal coronation robe. And the story continues with a line of three more chairs – the ministers to the right of the royal couple, and two rows of courtiers in the form of Alto’s classic Stool 60 with red seats lining the red carpet approach to the Seat of Honour… Of course, court life is both pain and pleasure, so in a corner two light grey version of the chairs can be found dangling from the ceiling, as if they were disgraced, executed ministers, further exposing the constructive logic of the Rope Chair. And in another corner outside the palace, the backrest rope of the chair is extended to create a playful swing. And as an appropriate ornamentation on the walls I placed the equally new Bouroullec designed Tupla Wall Hooks. Pendel lights by Aina Aalto and Alvar Aalto are hung as clusters to resemble the chandeliers in the throne room.

Complementing these imagined scenes and offering real living areas to welcome the visitors, more Rope Chairs and Tupla Wall Hooks populate the space and interact with Alvar Aalto and Ilmari Tapiovaara classics, as well as Kaari table, the collection designed by the Bouroullec brothers in 2015.