Tronco for Mattiazzi

At the Milan Design Week, Industrial Facility, the London studio of designers Sam Hecht and Kim Colin, presented Tronco for Italian company Mattiazzi. The collection includes a stackable solid wood chair, table and a mobile dolly.

Tronco appears to be a very basic chair, its seat formed from planks of wood joined together and mounted on round dowels. It is unlike any of our previous designs for Mattiazzi (Branca, Radice) that have displayed a sculptural soness achieved by robotically removing material. Instead, Tronco’s character is formed from solid strips of wood in what appears as very elemental construction, yet its simplicity is the result of iterative experimentation and a high regard for material honesty; it is made with the same extraordinary level of attention to detail that Mattiazzi is now known for. With Tronco, we remain interested in the frisson between solid panel construction and the truly skilled cra of its making. It seems the right time to tackle a new level of function for a solid wood chair: stacking 10-high by way of its accompanying trolley and connecting into rows.

Tronco has surprisingly natural comfort and works well in multiples, not just alone. Its form is modest enough so that it takes on the appearance of ‘texture’ when shown in numbers. It lis the atmosphere of interior spaces that require many chairs, whether it is a dining hall or a chapel. Tronco, in eect, creates a terrain of its own in any architecture. A range of coloured stains help to bring out the ash grain and add further dimension.

  We accompany the Tronco chair with a table, similarly made and chamfered at the edges so that it can join easily with others. With one or many, Tronco evokes solidity rather than frame.

Mattiazzi
12 – 17 April 2016
Hall 20 / Stand E11
Salone del Mobile