With great joy we inform you that from September 16th to October 21st of 2012, at the Hôtel Droog (Staalstraat 7B), in Amsterdam, we are part of the exhibition below, with the Flexa Low Bench, braided in cotton:

In Praise of Diversity: Benches from Brazil

The exhibition “In Praise of Diversity: Benches from Brazil”, curated by Adélia Borges, brings together, with no hierarchical differentiation, around 55 benches conceived by designers, artisan communities, and indigenous people of various regions of Brazil. Diversity is the exhibition’s keyword. The decision to present them together, side by side, serves the purpose of exploring the idea of who the same function – to sit – can bring about totally different objects. Therefore, it may be seen that indeed form follows function, but goes even further, expressing the culture of the location where the objects are designed and produced.

The indigenous benches have shapes and graphics-rich in meanings that cross over generations. Carved from a single piece of wood, some mimic animals, such as a jaguar, monkey, hawk or vulture, while others have clean forms as if they came straight from the Bauhaus handbooks. The benches made by illiterate craftsmen who work with materials at hand in the community where they live, often encompass valuable lessons on ergonomic comfort and proper use of raw materials.