4 CHAIRS RESTORATION
There Is No Religion Higher Than Truth
Florence, Italy
2011
This project is born a decade ago, in 2011 in a courtyard of a private residence in Florence where Natasa had lived and done furniture restoration at the time. Daily, she was trained by a local craftsman artisan and artist “Fabian Fani”, so as final task she was able to perform restoration of “4 Chairs” on her own and bring this idea to life. Keeping in mind the art of the ancient crafts – how to use hands intelligently and creatively, and yet preserve wood with different technics and materials, she worked morning, noon, and night to get close to the level. Those were the days to remember.
”Four Chairs” is originally a sixteenth-century heritage, Bergamo origin. The order is commissioned by the artist who had a wish of enmeshing antique chairs with natural materials such as leather, personalizing each of the chairs, giving new and timeless visual look.
To accommodate the request, due to personal creative cause, Natasa involves here classical elements: EARTH, WATER, AIR, AND FIRE.
THE STORY A suggested language inspired by a set of emotional alchemies, describing the four temperaments a person could have. By HIPPOCRATES, these theories stated that the temperaments and humor needed to be in balance with each other for a person to be well both mentally and physically.
Thinking of the overall concept idea and design as such, the chair’s design intentionally changes the classic look of the original design and becomes something schematic, a conceptual object.
This process took all the path of restoration as the structure was compromised; Cleaning, sanding, grouting of the wood frame were done at the phase of preparation, before wax and shellac polishing. Antique hand forged nails are cleaned, waxed, and recovered with patina a couple of times, all done at the local foundry, while leather is custom cut at the studio; SYMBOLS AND LETTERING are done lastly with leather embossing technic after Natasa’s design.
Merging craftsmanship, design, and innovation, an idea meets the actual need for comfort with distinctive aesthetics and preserve “Four Chairs” for another period of time.
*All material and photos are recovered, in February 2011, in Florence, Italy
