Susanne Westphal is a Berlin-based designer who works on the intersection of graphics and product design. These two chairs shown here, titled Wooly and Stitch, were designed to question how we want to spend our time and ponder why we have less time now than ever before, despite inventing time-saving objects and things.
They are unfinished – the user is able to finish, change and modify the chair themselves by taking yarn off Wooly and threading it through the holes of Stitch. I love how Westphal describes the therapeutic concept of the chairs: ‘They [the chairs] want to hold you up for a while, to take you out of the rush of everyday life. Unwind. Decelerate. Slow down. Stop. As the sitter feeds the yarns in and out of the holes, the simple and monotonous action becomes an automatism and the user reaches the state of mental digesting – they are decelerating. You have the chance to reflect on the impressions from life. The more time you give Wooly and Stitch, the more they become comfortable and the more time you want to rest in them.’
I think everyone deserves a little time to slow down, unwind and take a moment – and not only is this chair a beautiful-looking design piece, it has a little altruistic streak to put the user at ease… and relax…
images: Sascha Linke
