Core77

Nicola Golfari's "P.3" armchair puts—or rather, takes—the "mat" in inexpensive materials (and the "pipe" in pipe dream), epitomizing Recession Design's philosophy "that the pieces may not necessarily be aesthetically simple or 'toy-like' but should demonstrate on the contrary, through their pureness and clarity, how a sound project can give birth to high design even with humble materials and tools." In other words, it's the design equivalent of a lo-fi aesthetic.

Of course, we've seen a fair share of DIY projects over the years—so many, in fact, that we see it as a category of design in and of itself. Likewise, international design collective Recession Design captures this approach in their mission statement:

RECESSION DESIGN was born in 2008 when everybody started to speak about world economic crisis, with the aim of stimulating reflection on the meaning of "DESIGNING" even in that negative scenario.

The "recession" becomes a pretext and opportunity to scrutinize the contemporary design world: through a provocation-exhibition on the subject of "DIY DESIGN" the theme of "designing" was presented in an ironic manner that goes beyond the trends and fashions of the moment and returns the pure form and function of the object to the center of the design process.

Golfari's design ultimately succeeds in capturing the spirit of Recession Design's manifesto: the "P.3" is as straightforward as it gets, not only in terms of form and function but it's mundane materials and bootstrap construction. And while it's far from a luxury item—the armchair is candid, even coarse, short of outright crudeness—I gotta admit, it looks pretty comfortable.

Potted plant and jumpsuit not included.

Tweet

More: Furniture Design • Comments (5)