Nostos
Arflex Japan - 2022
Hope your road is a long one.
For the sailing hero of the Greek epic, the Nostos - the journey back home and back to his origins- is full of encounters and adventures. Each stop-over enriches him, making the journey much more important than reaching the destination. Thus the Nostos chair is like a return to the origin: its shape testifies our constant journey, back in time, towards the archetypes of the object, collecting treasures and teachings from the craftsmen of every age and latitude.
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The Nostos chair evokes distant and different traditions, demonstrating the closeness of apparently far human events in time and space. This awareness is an invitation to consider life itself as a journey back to the common origin of humanity, collecting treasures from every corner of the world.
Not all those who wander are lost.
The constructive scheme of Nostos’ supporting structure is evidently Scandinavian, but the lines of the legs give a sense of elasticity typical of Chiavari chairs. Its thicknesses and sturdiness recall the designs of the Austrian Joseph Hoffmann, but the armrest is an unprecedented synthesis of the Danish Finn Juhl, Orla Mølgaard-Nielsen and Peter Hvidt. The backrest has a typically Northern European width, but the way in which this fits into the leg is traditionally Italian.
Because of this variety it is maybe not right to describe the Nostos by examining its components separately. They are, after all, indistinguishable in the harmony of the whole. Their characteristics blend as details do in memories.
For sentimental reasons.
A chair, like any object of use, besides fulfilling its simplest function, responds to more subtle needs of emotional and sentimental nature. Touch has a key role in this. The armrest of the Nostos gets caressed and explored, even unconsciously.
The warmth of the wood, the slightly rounded surface, its helical curves and the widening near the elbow make it friendly and interesting. This responds to the need to feel familiar with the objects we use, to humanize their functional aspects. This same principle guides the lines of the other components of the chair, too. Everything seems to be determined by the shape of the armrest, in continuity or in response to the gesture that caresses it.
WANDERLUST
