A chair for Paulo Coelho

Portuguese architect Eduardo Benamor Duarte created the Animistic Chair for Brazilian writer Paulo Coelho: a chair of ash ribs as if they were animate in apparent equilibrium.

Portuguese architect Eduardo Benamor Duarte has designed a chair of ash ribs as if they were animate in apparent equilibrium.

Designed for Art-on-Chairs I Duets, an international event curated by José Bartolo that matches designers to world-renowned guest personalities and furniture manufacturers from the Portuguese municipality of Paredes. The chair is produced by Gual and features a mirrored seat and back and a metal white painted structural frame.

The chair pairs the spiritual world of Paulo Coelho literary work with the animistic belief that every non-human form has a spiritual essence.

The array of a sequence of identical ribs that gradually rotate from each other creates the illusion of motion and shape change. While the seat and back are brought to life by two hidden twisted metal bars attached perpendicularly to the sides, the base and legs are bent in a metal white tube holding the ash ribs.