Cross Cultural Chairs

Sicilian designer Matteo Guarnaccia's research-based project asks whether the culturally variable act of sitting has been colonized by modern design, and whether furniture can reveal profound differences in how cultures understand bodies, space, hierarchy, and community. Over eight months, Guarnaccia traveled to eight of the world's most populated countries, collaborating with local design studios and craftspeople to create chairs that express each culture's distinct relationship to sitting and domestic space. The resulting 388-page book documents these collaborations alongside theoretical essays examining chairs as sites where social and cultural differences become material.

Contributors include Tulio Amarante, Ana Elena Mallet, Hisashi Ikai, Spandana Gopal, and Wale Lawal, each bringing regional expertise and cultural perspective. Interviews with FormaFantasma and Aldo Cibic contextualize the project within broader conversations about decolonizing design practice. For furniture designers, anthropologists, design historians, or anyone interested in how everyday objects embody cultural values.