Discourse: Martino Gamper- 100 chairs in 100 days

This is one of my recent discoveries and one of the most interesting collections of work I have seen in a while. Martino Gamper set himself the self explanatory project named '100 chairs in 100 days', this entailed collecting disregarded chairs from the streets of London and from the homes of friends and families. The collecting of the chairs took around 2 years before is 100 days of craft and making could begin (http://www.gampermartino.com/projects/a-100-chairs-in-a-100-days/). The objective of the project was to reinvent/ 'transform its character' the already existing chairs that he found (http://www.gampermartino.com/projects/a-100-chairs-in-a-100-days/).

He used the project as a '3-D sketchbook' to experiment and be playful, finding what would work as the best overall design and what would be more suited to mass production (http://www.gampermartino.com/projects/a-100-chairs-in-a-100-days/). He uses the chairs to 'celebrate' the 'geographical, historical and human resonance of design: what can they tell us about London? What areas they came from and who used them' (http://www.gampermartino.com/projects/a-100-chairs-in-a-100-days/). This idea is similar to Dalton Ghetti with his alphabet carved into pencils that he found on the streets; I think that when the artist looks so deeply into where the resources they use come from, it is shown in their work. You can tell that they are respecting the materials and using the history instead of disregarding it, creating work with a greater substance letting history shining through.

I really like the idea of using something that has already existed and transforming its character because I think that when something already exists you have to be more inventive and creative to transform it into something else than if you were to make something completely from scratch. I also think it gives work an extra quality because people can relate to what it used to be then have their eyes opened to what it could be.