Finland is no stranger to fancy and iconic places to sit, boasting names such as Aalto, Aarnio, and Saarinen among its most famous chair-designing citizens. Which must be why Eero Yli-Vakkuri and Jesse Sipola, the artistic duo behind Helsinki-based design firm Ore.e Refineries, have tasked the world to stop designing chairs. As part of the "No Chair Design Challenge," the guys write: "We believe that the world already has enough chairs. Designing new ones only takes time away from renovating the ones we already have." The contest kicks off next year to coincide with Helsinki's tenure as the World Design Capital; participants are asked to text-message their updates about what they've been up to instead of crafting chairs, and eventually Yli-Vakkuri and Sipola will award five "Design and Craft Diplomas." Not sure where to begin in the dark, dreary realm of the chairless? There's a short tutorial that begins, "Find a place to fit in the wilderness. Or if you can't reach the wilderness, find a place to sit. Think about the amount of time you spend when designing a chair. Think about the amount of stuff you could have done when you were not designing chairs." Watch it in full below, then sign the petition over here.
The Video: How Not To Design Chairs
NO-CHAIR-DESIGN Year 2012! from Eero Y on Vimeo.
· No Chair Design Challenge [official site via UnBeige]