︎
Žan Kobal —
design, writting and recearch




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information


selected work
     futuring
     inheritance bench
     nostalgia for a world that never existed

     insecure

     post-luxury

     virtual archeology

     metaphorical histories

     "chair"

     a memorial to the monuments

     chair 001


selected writing     
    On Memory and Materiality
     Design, Designs
    The Difficult Heritage Of A Broken Past











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Chair 001


YEAR

2016

MATERIALS

plywood, metal

IN COLLABORATION WITH

Anže Sekelj



The Chair 001 was conceived as a dialogue, a dialogue between two designers, two materials, the past and the present. It is a reinterpretation of classic school chairs and intended for domestic use.

We started our design process by researching the local chair manufacturers and the history of chair manufacturing in our home country Slovenia. All roads lead us to a small town of Kamnik with a strong history in manufacturing of bent wood furniture, dating back more than 150 years. After the dissolution of Yugoslavia the successor states opened up their market to capitalism. This lead to the death of local manufacturers who couldn’t compete in the over-saturated market.

All that is left of the once prolific industry in Slovenia is a chair manufacturer called Ocean. The company specializes in steel bent furniture for schools and offices, and their products can be found in institutions all over the country. We decided to design a chair that transcends history and combines the traditional bent wood craftsmanship and the modern industrial production of steel.