Verve – July 2019

VERVEMAGAZINE.IN 29

NERVE | CULTURE

JOSHUA NAVALKAR

ABOVE, LEFT: A COMMON OFFICE CHAIR ; RIGHT: CROSS CULTURAL CHAIRS’ INDIA CHAIR; BELOW: MATTEO GUARNACCIA

MATTEO GUARNACCIA

technique of the charpai, albeit in a more intricate version.

Having visited India several times (“Every time I come, I fall in

love again”), Guarnaccia realised early on that the country has

a ‘floor-sitting culture’, much like the other three in Asia (Japan,

China, Indonesia) that he has travelled to. “But I noticed that

India, unlike the others, merges the two seating postures,” he

shares. “In Japan, for example, the difference between sitting

on the floor and on a chair is clear, and it’s mainly dictated by

the presence of the tatami on the floor. In India, I noticed that

people cross their legs on the seat while sitting on a chair, both

in an official and social context,” he states, adding, “I think this

also comes from the types of shoes that are worn, which are

usually easy to take off.” This was something that he wanted

to express in his creation, which he did by designing a curve

on the armrest and transforming it into a leg-rest instead. “So,

when someone crosses their legs while sitting and, say, drinking

their chai, they will accidentally discover a soft-edged surface

to rest them on.”

Despite his efforts to view and decode cultures through

the lens of chairs, Guarnaccia maintains that his project is

concerned more with people than with chairs. He shares,

“The chair, as an object, performs its duty only when it is

used by someone, so I am trying to understand the how, why,

where, when....”

Something for him to sit on and ponder....

HAVE A SEAT

JOSHUA NAVALKAR