Research centre
Art and Design Research Centre 

Date
2014

imagining chairs

Paul Chamberlain was a major award winner of the ‘Art on Chairs’ international design competition. A national and international jury composed of six renowned experts selected, out of 449 applications from 37 countries, 9 projects for award and prototyping and which were the anchor point of the exhibition ‘Art on Chairs’ at Paredesmunicipality, Portugal, 14th September – 18th November 2012. The competition was open to students and professionals of design and architecture at a global level and of every age. Paul’s STIGMA chairs won the major prize in the ‘Imagining chairs’ category of the ‘Art on Chairs’ international design competition (sponsored by the Paredes Furniture Design Pole & Institute for Design, Media and Culture Research, Portugal). The award has resulted in a collaboration with furniture manufacturer Jose Fernando Loureiro Dos Santos Ltd to produce the chairs as part of the ‘Art on Chairs objective’ to reinvent a territory for a sustainable development and a new economic model for the region.

'The archetypal (chair) form is not hindered or compromised for function but explores the chair as a critical artefact in response to this unprecedented global demographic change.

The construction demands precision and quality that celebrates the rich knowledge and traditions of the Paredes territory but embraces the creative future vision of the active community. The STIGMA collection manifests the immaterial value of the chair contributing to its expansive symbolic and cultural meaning.'

The international design competition and exhibition (the largest of its kind staged in Portugal) is part of an ambitious project. The history of the Paredes municipality and its industrial capacity, particularly in the furniture sector, are conditions that favour change in the city’s development model, in order to make it more sustainable and capable of attracting people, talent and businesses, generating greater value and better quality of life.

Download the Imagining Chairs PDF (PDF, 2.3MB) (PDF 2394KB)

Researchers involved

Professor Paul Chamberlain - Design Director Lab4living and Head of Art and Design Research Centre