‘hold me’

when i first saw this chair, i thought, ‘awww isn’t that just sweet, comraderie amongst furniture’. yet reading into Craig Alun Smith’s rationalle for this perculiar design (called the WANK chair) is as disturbing as it is pretentious.

‘WANK’ is a metaphor for the relationship between the 1st and 3rd world, how they are interdependent and how the 3rd world “props up” the 1st. It also speaks to the war for oil in Iraq, the “white” chair is missing a leg possibly due to an roadside IED bomb and is bleeding oil. The materials are Imbuya for the dark able bodied chair, and Sugar Maple for the light, handicapped chair. Imbuya is a Brazilian hardwood from very large trees. We’ve ensured that this lumber came from a tree that was the lifeblood of a 3000 year old culture.

Sheesh. i feel guilty for thinking it reminded me of the melting ice cream truck.
remove the metaphoric symbolism and it’s still a cute idea

via design boom