Matteo Guarnaccia — Cross Cultural Chairs

Cross Cultural Chairs: 8 chairs from 8 countries: diversifying modern seating, Set Margins', 2023

A study of seating across cultures, from a project that started with the white plastic garden chair.

Over eight months, Matteo Guarnaccia, a designer from Sicily who edits the volume, travelled to eight of the world's most populous countries. In each he worked with local designers and artisans on one chair made for that country's cultural context, while asking what globalisation does to the way chairs are designed and consumed.

Introductory interviews with FormaFantasma and Aldo Cibic open the book, followed by texts from Tulio Amarante, Spandana Gopal, Hisashi Ikai, Wale Lawal, Ana Elena Mallet, Ayos Purwoaji, Alexandra Sankova and Shell Xu. It first came out with Onomatopee in 2021; this is the Set Margins' edition, with graphic design by Studio Albert Romagosa.

388 pages, Swiss-bound softcover, 170 x 240 mm, over 500 colour images, in English.