In Milan next month Venetian designer Luca Nichetto will present a chair painted to look like the surface is already wearing away.
Called Alle, the design features a tubular metal frame with a curved plywood seat.
The legs and edges of the seat are painted in one colour, graduating towards the centre.
Nichetto created the design for Italian brand Skitsch, who launched their inaugural collection in Milan last year (see our earlier story).
More about Luca Nichetto on Dezeen:
Poliart Design for Casamania
Essence collection
See also:
Ghost stories by Nendo (November 2009)
Blur furniture by Big-game (May 2009)
Here’s a little text from Nichetto:
Alle
Created to serve many uses, Alle is a revisitation of the tubular chair, but with an innovative twist. The chair consists of a tubular metal structure into which a curved plywood seat is fitted, so both components are made of simple, commonplace materials.
It comes in two versions, a classic four-legged one and another with a four-footed columnar base.
One of Alle’s distinguishing characteristics is the gradated shading of the edges of its seat with paint the same colour as that of the frame, which creates an effect recalling the wear typically seen on the wooden chairs in cafés or bars.
Design: Luca Nichetto
Material: metal, plywood
Typology: furniture
Client: Skitsch
Year: 2010
March 12th, 2010 at 9:46 am
Black chair has a nice contrast.
March 12th, 2010 at 10:16 am
The version with four-footed columnar base looks neater. I guess that the fade colour idea comes from fashion trends.
March 12th, 2010 at 12:39 pm
It’s very nice! Really nice aesthetics. But would be much better to leave it fade naturally rather that faking it. It would feel more personal to each too.
But nice one!
March 12th, 2010 at 2:51 pm
these are renderings right? I didn’t think they were until the image with the stacked chairs… Either way, I get it. I like how the wood fades in from the color of the frame, especially the grey.
March 12th, 2010 at 6:20 pm
it’s a lovely effect but it doesn’t look like the surface is wearing away.
plus, tubular frame at front of seat = sore thighs.
March 12th, 2010 at 9:01 pm
I feel like a better design solution would be to alter the finish on the material where it currently looks faded so that it fades faster with actual wear.
March 12th, 2010 at 11:30 pm
This is clearly renderings!
Two things comes to my mind:
1. These chairs will need welding jobs executed on a very high level. Else the finish will be terrible.
2. On the stacking version: With all this bent tube going on, I find it weird the seat is unprotected from the back legs. In use, this can result in “eaten” wooden edges on the seat.
The columnar based version has good potential!
March 13th, 2010 at 12:47 am
Looks neat, however maybe they should be sold as painted and the gradient will come by using it, maybe more sustained?
March 15th, 2010 at 12:52 am
if it wore by use wouldn’t it mess up peoples’ clothes?