Walt Chair

With many allusive names (vis à vis, courting bench, tête à tête, chaperone chair, gossip chair, le confident, etc.) this neoclassical piece of furniture was once widespread in England and France. It alludes to polite society, designed specifically to allow for conversation while maintaining a respectable distance: the back/armrest creates an ‘S’, which divides the two mirrored seats and makes conversation possible while avoiding physical contact.

Bodino’s chair for De Castelli is a sophisticated reference to this object, though it completely overturns the original logic of its use. Instead of separating, it unites: the chair is composed of two single identical elements defined by soft, symmetrical curves, designed to nestle perfectly and create a sinuous and welcoming composition which invites people to engage in an empathetic relationship.

The chair interprets the values of love and union with its organic lines, embellished by a surprising graphic mark: when the two parts are aligned, it’s possible to read a poem on the seat, erosion-engraved on its metal surface. The author of the poem is Walt Whitman, the American poet born in 1919 and considered the first to write in free verse, famous for having written about love without ever saying the word. Seen from above, the curvilinear perimeter echoes the infinity symbol, the union of past, present and future and a reference to the journey that is life, the theme chosen for this year’s Homo Faber.