I love Alberto Vieyrah's Urban-Chaotic Respite Lounge Chair because it looks like the perfect vessel to hurtle through space. In fact, and in mind of the general concept of head-long, minimally-controlled, projectile journeys, the piece also looks like it would be great for rolling down hills, catapulting off ski jumps, and barreling down the great waterfalls of the world. Had daredevil Niagra-jumpers like Annie Taylor, Bobby Leach, and “Smiling” Jean Lussier lived to see the present day, I dare say they'd be tempted to seal all apertures and go for broke in a souped-up version of Urban-Chaotic.

Urban-Chaotic Respite Lounge Chair. Designed by Alberto Vieyarah.

In defiance of all expectation, the chair is not made form polycarbonate or pvc or other such familiar plastic derivatives, but rather good old American metal from the quintessentially American city of San Diego. Designer Vieyrah-whose working ethos involves regional materials, local craftsmanship, environmental stewardship, and a dose or two of life-sustaining profitability-assembles each chair with a metal understructure wrapped in sheet metal, then finishes off the works with a generous coating of Dupont car paint. The recipe makes one wonder if San Diego might be emerging as the new Detroit, at least in regards to automobile-influenced design-art.

Beyond referencing the car-inspired nature of the piece, Vieyrah speaks of Urban-Chaotic's prognosticatory power: "a lot of people don't know how furniture can be art, and that it can make a space beautiful...or horrible...I'm always dreaming about the future. It's going to change in five or 10 years, because we're going to conceive of it in a different way, but in this moment, this is how I picture the future." Urban-Chaotic Respite is futuresque to be sure, but it's more than that. With an aesthetic that evokes past pieces invested in everything from interstellar travel (E.T. Table), to the Apocalypse (Disaster Bookshelf), to the space-age work station (Globus Office Pod), Urban-Chaotic Respite is whimsical and versatile, which in my book translates to great fun for all.

Via Chairblog.