A chair by any other name is just something one sits on, right? Buzz: wrong. Italian modern-design firm Kartell has teamed with theater director Robert Wilson on a series of handmade transparent polycarbonate chairs inspired by the Shakespeare classic As You Like It, making that boring ol' thing you sit on something that constantly reminds you that you should read more. The seven Electric Chairs, each with a differently shaped strip of neon white light (that "seems to float in the plastic giving life to magical perspectives," according to the release that just came in) and produced in a limited edition of seven, tip the cowboy hat to one of Shakespeare's most famous monologues, in which Jacques de Bois begins with "All the world's a stage..." and continues on to discuss the "seven ages of man." Wilson discusses the importance of this number in a press statement:
"From the number seven. Seven days of the week. I am 70 years old, seven decades, seven deadly sins and there are many more references in philosophy, mathematics. Shakespeare’s play ‘As you like it’ contains the seven ages of man, there are seven dwarfs in Snow white and there is the soft drink 7UP. Seven has always been a number that interests me.” Set to debut at La Scala opera house in Milan this week in conjunction with the opening of an opera directed by Wilson, the poetic seating may also make an appearance at DesignMiami in December and can be ordered through Kartell.
Excerpt from As You Like It:
All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players:
They have their exits and their entrances; 140
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages. At first the infant,
Mewling and puking in the nurse's arms.
And then the whining school-boy, with his satchel
And shining morning face, creeping like snail
Unwillingly to school. And then the lover,
Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad
Made to his mistress' eyebrow. Then a soldier,
Full of strange oaths and bearded like the pard,
Jealous in honour, sudden and quick in quarrel,
Seeking the bubble reputation
Even in the cannon's mouth. And then the justice,
In fair round belly with good capon lined,
With eyes severe and beard of formal cut,
Full of wise saws and modern instances;
And so he plays his part. The sixth age shifts
Into the lean and slipper'd pantaloon,
With spectacles on nose and pouch on side,
His youthful hose, well saved, a world too wide
For his shrunk shank; and his big manly voice,
Turning again toward childish treble, pipes
And whistles in his sound. Last scene of all,
That ends this strange eventful history,
Is second childishness and mere oblivion,
Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.
· Kartell [official site]
· Robert Wilson [official site]