Quirky Mismatched Waiting Room Furniture
There are a few special moments in life where everyone is equal regardless of age, gender, social standing, or any other parameters: when we are waiting. Look around the waiting room in a doctor’s office or in an airport and you’ll see everyone in exactly the same suspended moment in life.
Italian designer Maurizio Bernabei took this momentary equalization into consideration when he designed #waitingfor, a quirky mismatched collection of surfaces and materials that form the basis of a neutral waiting area.
As we wait, we tend to reflect, to plan, to retreat into ourselves for just a little while. In this time, we may notice the pattern of the carpet or the weave of the chair on which we sit. #waitingfor gives waiting people a diverse selection of materials, colors, and patterns on which to reflect.
The “patchwork” appearance of the #waitingfor set corresponds with the people you find in a waiting room. They are all different, they all have their own stories, but ultimately they are all there for the same reason: to wait.
“Waitingfor is a collection of sofas for waiting rooms and public environments. A personal project that was selected in 2014 to be presented at the Fuori Salone, one of the most important furniture competitions, and which is held within the Milan Design Week.”
“The idea came from observing the way we act in waiting rooms, sitting among strangers, isolated in a world of emotions and sensations that we refuse to share. It is born from that uncomfortable situation. What I thought was how could I feel like I own my time and my space sitting here?”
“The answer was to build a mix with the different types of seats that we use in our day to day. Thus was born the composition inspired by a Chester sofa, with very comfortable and wide cushions, apitoné backrest and arm padded in leather. The “privacy” armchair typology, where you can sit down and practically hide. And the “terminal cushion”, wider than a normal cushion, and designed for those who always sit at the end of the sofa, on the arm, in a position to be about to flee.”
