Day 294
October 21, 2010An unusual texture on this modern sculpture by Ron Arad.
ROD GOMLI by Ron Arad
Ron Arad came from his native Tel Aviv in 1973 to study at the Architectural Association in London; he worked briefly for an architectural practice, but one lunchtime he walked out, never to return. His first furniture project was the iconic Rover chair created from the reclaimed leather seats of the Rover 2000, and in August this year, more than 30 years later, he unveiled his latest sculptural seat, Gomli, at the Timothy Taylor Gallery.
The Gomli chair is named after a small steel figure that sits on Arad’s desk. “When we design chairs we always imagine the invisible sitter who could be male, female, old, young, large or small – so I developed the invisible sitter into a real figure. We nicknamed this sexless, ageless everyman the Gomli.
“The name might have something to do with my friend Antony Gormley. He uses himself as a model for his artworks, whereas Gomli is a one-size-fits-all figure used to represent everybody. Gomli has no preconceptions of beauty – he is designed for comfort.”
ROD GOMLI by Ron Arad
