Massimiliano Malagò creates chair as "essay in the form of an object"

Local designer Massimiliano Malagò has created an acrylic chair covered in illustrations and writings that explore the experience of "labour, love and leisure" in New York City.

Shaped to resemble a throne, and engraved with Malagò's own writings, the piece is called Pax New Yorkea, and functions as an "essay in the form of an object" that invites the user to contend with the peculiarities of life in New York City.

"By encapsulating both critique and satire, Pax New Yorkea presents a portrait of New York – seat of power, and vector of emancipation, debauchery, exhilaration and sorrows at once – that reflects the hardened resilience required to live, love, and survive in the city today," said Malagò.

"Completely Italian", but raised in London, Malagò said that the project began after returning to New York City after visa difficulties, which forced him to reflect on why he returned.

The chair was made from a wooden base and acrylic panels that were laser-etched and then washed with gold paint. and is almost completely covered with markings.

The three sides of the chair are broken into different themes Malagò explores in his writings. One is working culture in New York, another is relationships, and the last is leisure, or free time.

Malagò said he also wanted the text to operate as "a sea of information that blurs into a texture" to represent the information overload of the digital age, and to create an object that grabs attention.

For the designer, working culture in the city is tied to an incessant compulsion to produce, which can result in "binding pride to endless output".

The chair's sides rise around the sitter, in part to create a feeling of protection from these "conditions", as well as the other themes.

A fourth panel can also completely enclose the chair, which symbolises the closing of a chapter for the designer.

Emblems of the city, such as flowers and symbols, are also engraved in the chair, and along the back, a tarot card spread the designer received.

The designer said the object was created to juxtapose the grand with the mundane.

"For me, this was making an object that is incredibly luxurious, incredibly grand, but it's actually talking about something quite common and sometimes quite sad, because the hardships that people go through to stay in the city are just difficult."

Massimiliano Malagò is an architectural designer based in New York City. He currently teaches at the Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation and runs the design practice HHMM with set designer Helene Helleu.

Recently, local design studio Tian & Teague also created furniture that explores the difficulties of living in New York City, which includes a rug shaped like a flattened rat.

The photography is by Helene Helleu

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