Hair Chair Designed by Baron & Baron Re-envisions Grande Papilio

Since I'll be sinking my teeth into the Grande Papilio Chair later this week, I thought I'd introduce you to the cloaked versions so lovingly created for the London Design Festival. If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then what about reinterpretation? I'd say that working with someone else's design and transforming it into a one-of-a-kind art piece speaks volumes in the way of approbation. The re-envisioning of Naoto Fukasawa's Grande Papilio Chair came about as an installation presented by B&B Italia and Wallpaper in which three designers-Viktor & Rolf, Baron & Baron and Elmgreen & Dragset-tackled the Grande Papilio.

Hair Chair. Designed by Baron & Baron.

The three chairs were shown from September 23-27 and will be auctioned off with 100% of the proceeds going to the Terrence Higgins Trust, an HIV/AIDS charity. Whoever gets my favorite vision, Hair Chair by Baron & Baron, needs to ring into 3 rings to report on its whereabouts-I don't want it out of my sight (even if it's theoretical sight). Hair Chair wraps the Grande Papilio Chair in hair-long, beautiful hair, shining, gleaming, steaming, flaxen, waxen hair (synthetic, I must add)-tied lovingly in the back with two plaits acting as tassled sashes. Perhaps I like the Hair Chair so much because it recalls the monsters of my formative years, starting with the Wild Things (obviously charming, since Spike Jonze is making them the stars of his next film) and ending with Gossamer, the red monster that lures Bugs Bunny to his lair-not to mention Cousin It from The Addams Family.

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The best part of Baron & Baron's Hair Chair, however, is the money it could raise for a good cause (play swelling music here if you wish but it's true nonetheless). When the A+D community gets inspired by real-world matters, the result is usually captivating-and so it is here. On a side note, the other two designs also covered the Grande Papilio Chair-the altruist wrapped it up with a bow while the sadist tied it down with ropes.

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