Tadao Ando is like the concrete-whisperer: the Japanese architect has an unmatched talent for manipulating the everyday material to do pretty magical things. Dream Chair is one of his latest projects — a collaboration with Danish manufacturer Carl Hansen & Son — that switches up his usual scale and medium. The result is a seat that seems toao precarious to be true, thanks to some seriously clever engineering.
The way the back leans past the swerve on the base makes it look like the 3D-pressed beech veneer would snap in two the minute a butt made contact — I can imagine settling into it with the same apprehension as I’d have standing on the corner of Paul Cocksedge’s impossibly curved Poise table — but bentwood has incredibly surprising strength.
Besides, as evidenced by the name, Ando wants the sitter to really settle in, relax and let the mind wander. If you’re so inclined, you can purchase the Dream Chair from Carl Hansen & Son later this month. [Carl Hansen & Son]