balance chair by pascal anson

Would you say this so-called “chair” is presumptuous, pretentious, or just plain hilarious?

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It’s definitely not practical. There is no real design reason behind making an ordinary chair stand on just one (or two) of its legs, but the designer who (literally) hacked this chair to do so contends that sometimes designers need to challenge their perception. 

balancing chair sculpture

Pascal Anson readily admits that this is a piece of sculpture, but it is not pure artistic invention. Mass production misses the point. Who does not remember trying to balance on a single leg of a four-legged chair? If you have not tried this trick, well, there is a first time for everything – just make sure to keep yourself from falling over by holding onto something solid (like a table or a desk).

balancing chairs in a room

In the video, he brings up a quote that might help folks who see this work as futile understand it. In essence, he argues that art can cause us to stop, think and do something different. We may never cut angled sections from the bottoms of our chairs, but if nothing else we can be entertained or inspired by the act much like we are by a well-cast illusion from a clever magician.

“The Balance is the chair, The Moment is the installation. The Balance is the most ordinary chair made extraordinary. There is no camera trickery, three simple cuts in the chair’s legs change how the chair behaves and how you experience it. The installation makes you wonder whether time has stopped.”

balancing chair college

“Concept or idea comes first and aesthetics follow, this is mainly because I am driven to change how we see something or interact with it. I design furniture, graphics, products, lighting, spaces, cars, interiors and planes. Each design tries to challenge by asking you to stop and think again, differently. Most of my work output is three dimensional and the artefact is often more important than the image. A resourceful attitude and way of working is key to me but so is fun, playfulness and sometimes magic.”