Quinze and Milan’s latest, the Second Skin Chair, is right up any design deconstructionist’s alley. Lately known in this venue as the force behind the comfortable and comforting contract seating called Airbench, the Belgium-based manufacturer has gone in a decidedly different direction for Second Skin. While Airbench is light and lively, Second Skin carries around a bit of metaphorical baggage—that is to say, the piece is a conceptual exploration into the concept of “chairness”: “What makes a chair a chair? What distinguishes it from a stool, a sofa or a bench for that matter? For Second Skin, we stripped down the notorious easy chair from all unnecessary frills, until we were left with nothing but its core, the bones. Given the deconstructed chair and keeping in mind traditional upholstering in leather, we then started playing…”

Second Skin Chair. Designed by Quinze and Milan.

Bohemian Chic for the Fashion Conscious

The upshot of Q&M’s fun with form is a sort of skeletal piece draped in the luxurious couture of Kvadrat Leather. Each Second Skin is one of a kind—hand-crafted and customized by Q&M artisans in generously proportioned lengths of lacquered oak and straddled by equally generous reams of the aforementioned “second skin.” I view the piece as a partial homage to essential Modern work like Pierre Paulin’s F 444, a piece that also strips the notion of armchair down to its bare bones. But while Paulin was concerned with the use of newer, shinier materials like tubular stainless steel, Second Skin has a rougher aesthetic.

That last point might sound odd given the chair offers the refined luxuriance of Kvadrat, with “the option of upholstering the chair in the desired colour of fabric Divina… in up to five layers of (contrasting) leather or fabric,” but there’s something decidedly archaic about Second Skin. The interplay between the rough wood and the rougher fabric puts me in mind of early Medieval times, evoking the thrones of Celtic Chieftains or Visigoth Warlords. Even so, Second Skin might just as easily be the heir to the Mad Max tradition of apocalyptic chic. There’s a patchwork elegance about the piece that’s fashionable and fun, suggesting resilience, resourcefulness, and a yen for formal purity.