This Chair is Ass.
Taking the objectification of women to a whole new level? Yep, that’s what I thought too. For a little while, I was passing this chair every day going to and from work – it was furnishing a little ‘pop up’ advertising agency near where I live – and every day I wondered what the thought process behind choosing such a chair for a place of work might have been… other than turning heads, obviously.
The chair is made by Italian company Casamania (after several Google searches, typing in ‘Sexy Chair’ came up with the goods) and it turns out it comes in both male and female versions. I’d love to know who bought these chairs, where they were used and whether the male or female version is more popular.
In my frantic Googling to find the chair’s maker, I had stumbled onto what seems to be a big trend for humanising furniture; take a look at some examples here, here, here, here, and here. It’s interesting, but not surprising, to find that a lot of humanised furniture takes on a female gender and has erotic undertones. Some aren’t even subtle in their kinky funtions – this one really boggles the mind!
I’m not fan of this chair (if you hadn’t guessed already!) since, to me, it feels like yet another one of those little reminders from the patriarchal-powers-that-be that put women ‘in their place’; “Don’t get too above your station, lady, we only really want you to sit around and look pretty!” And that’s just looking at it! Can you imagine how having to sit in it (at your place of work, no less) would make you feel?
Whereas forniphila enthusiasts may be fans of this Allen Jones style of home furnishing, I prefer my feminised fixtures and fittings served up Sarah Lucas style.
(Photograph by Sarah Barnes)
By: Sarah Barnes, 08.11.2009 | Comments (0)Tagged: Allen Jones, Casamania, Chair, Forniphilia, Furniture, Objectification, putting women in their place, Sarah Lucas
