An Experiment in Sitting
Antonello da Messina, Saint Jerome in his Study (Image: courtesy of The National Gallery, London).
For Disegno’s 10th anniversary, we’re republishing 29 stories, one from each of the journal’s back issues, selected by our founder Joahnna Agerman Ross. From Disegno #11, the journal’s creative director Florian Böhm captured Hieronymous, designer Konstantin Grcic’s meditation on sitting.
The act of sitting has been berated of late, with several reports suggesting that sedentary lifestyles have a far worse effect on our health than previously thought. It was perhaps no surprise to Konstantin Grcic, a designer who has never been a fan of comfort for comfort’s sake. Through projects such as the 360° chair for Magis, Grcic has tried to dispel the myth of the comfortable chair form. Instead, he pushes for an alternative form of more active sitting.
In Hieronymus, an exhibition at Galerie Kreo in Paris, Grcic has further explored the process of sitting through a series of five structures that straddle furniture design and miniature architecture. The starting point of this experimentation was an Antonello da Messina painting from the late 15th century that Grcic has long admired. It shows Saint Jerome in his study, an enclosed space conceived for the purpose of reflection that shields him from the external world. Similarly Grcic’s designs – executed in five different materials and techniques – support, embrace, and distrupt the body in equal measure. Here, the dancer Adrien Dantou was invited to reflect, Munari-esque, on Grcic’s structures through physical engagement.
Photographs Florian Böhm
Art Direction Annahita Kamali
Styling Nicholas Galletti
Dancer Adrien Dantou
Photography Assistant Vanni Bassetti
Location Galerie Kreo, Paris
This article was originally published in Disegno #11. To buy the issue, or subscribe to the journal, please visit the online shop.