“If we talk about wood, we need to talk about the forests” – transformative ideas in focus in Formafantasma’s installation Reading Room
The research-based design studio Formafantasma is the Guest of Honour at Stockholm Furniture Fair. Using design as an agent for social and environmental change, the studio adopts a holistic perspective on design to explore its transformative potential.
“To work as a designer today goes beyond thinking about the product. It is of course important, but it’s just as crucial to rethink the way we produce things”, says Andrea Trimarchi who founded the studio in 2009 together with Simone Farresin. “Formafantasma started as an office focusing on material investigations, and then we deepened our research into the ecological consequences of design today.”
As Guest of Honour, Formafantasma has created the installation in the Entrance Hall. For once, it’s not products that take centre stage, but transformative knowledge, ideas and visions for the future. The installation is called Reading Room, and inside visitors will find a calm space to sit for a moment, and read, reflect and immerse themselves in the ideas that have shaped Formafantasma’s work.
“A fair is a place where people gather to see new products. But it is also a platform for exchanging ideas and for cultures to meet. We wanted to do something that wasn’t just about displaying our own work but rather offering something in line with our way of thinking and working that is also relevant for others,” says Andrea Trimarchi.
The installation is furnished with seating and tables from Artek, lighting from Flos, and textiles from Maharam. On the tables, Reading Room offers a curated selection of books about sustainability, ecology and ecosystems, especially forests. There are also screens displaying video works by Formafantasma.
“In a way, it’s a bibliography on our way of thinking related to ecology. Our aim is to make people engage with ecology, not on a product level but on a systemic level. When we talk about furniture design we implicitly talk about wood, and if we talk about wood, we need to talk about forests. We want people to connect the product to the ecosystem from which it originates and talk about the possibilities in this, but also the problems,” says Andrea Trimarchi.
In line with this thinking, the installation itself is designed with as much thought and care put into what will happen to it afterward as to how it will fulfil its purpose during Stockholm Furniture Fair. When the fair is over, the books will be donated to design schools. The seating and tables will be resold as signed pieces at Nordiska Galleriet.
“The major challenge for the furniture industry today is to rethink how we produce products, and I think designers can help this process. In a way, the work that we will display in the installation is related to this. It’s a recent collaboration with Artek, an example of a way of working that is not only product–oriented but also about establishing a conversation about sourcing and production. I think this is the future of design,” Trimarchi ends.
On the opening day of Stockholm Furniture Fair, February 6, Formafantasma will give a Guest of Honour talk, co-hosted by the Italian Cultural Institute in Stockholm.
Stockholm Furniture Fair 2024 will take place 6-10 February 2024.
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