Sea Chair No. 8 ^{2014 (this exemplar 2019)}

The British designer duo Studio Swine – which stands for Super Wide Interdisciplinary New Explorers – makes sea chairs from the ‘Plastic Soup’ that our oceans have become. Together with local fishermen, they fish plastic out of the water and ­process it in a small oven on the fishing boat. With their Sea Chair, Japanese architect Azusa Murakami and British artist Alexander Groves map out the problem of ocean pollution and offer an alternative to throwaway plastic. They are well aware that their stool will not solve the problem – the production price is too high and the actual making process is too labour-intensive – but perhaps the message is more ­important than the end product, which is to stimulate interest and ­involvement in this problem. They also offer a free manual with Sea Chair.

SOURCES

Rose Etherington, The Sea Chair by Alexander Groves, Azusa Murakami and Kieren Jones, in: Dezeen, 18/8/2011;
www.studioswine.com.