Karim Rashid: Made from Cedar

(jiří macek) The Italian brand of Riva 1920 has presented a chair made from individual blocks of cedar in lot-production. Designer Karim Rashid found inspiration in Egypt and entitled it Kairo. If it were not a chair, it could easily become a statue. The chair’s machine manufacture takes eight hours; its manual treatment takes another four hours.

I do not know if it is too much or too little. This is lot-production so it is probably too long. However, each Kairo specimen is unique. A block of cedar is gradually chiseled and trimmed into a relatively light chair of an unusual shape with distinct double arches. The perfect finish it receives shifts the structure of the wood towards the visual quality of marble that is emphasized by the lines of both arches. Karim Rashid allegedly recalls arches such as these from his trip to Egypt. Thus, Riva 1920 – a phenomenal wooden furniture manufacturer – has enriched its catalogue with another piece that blurs the line between art and nature, as well as between various materials in craft and industrial production. Riva 1920 seems to enjoy doing so.

Riva 1920 furniture can be purchased in Prague in the Aglas Furniture store, which will present individual pieces at this year’s Designbloku.

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