Miau Armchair by GamFratesi

The Danish-Italian duo Stine Gam and Enrico Fratesi have extensive understanding and knowledge in traditional woodworking techniques, design structures and approaches, and they are also skilled in transforming these techniques to create new values and designs.
This exceptional talent, combined with their love and respect toward Japanese traditions and craftsmanship, resulted in creating a beautiful armchair that carries a nostalgic feeling yet freshness at the same time.

Working with solid wood was a fascinating experience for the duo especially because they were able to work very closely with the workshop for the KOYORI project. Although they both come from countries once-flourishing in wood working, they say that it is now very rare to be able to work so closely with factories and artisans. In this project particularly using tactile solid wood, Stine and Enrico tried to design the chair in a sculptural way, and the aim was to create something that feels incredibly pleasant to the touch. At the same time, they wanted the chair to be slim and sleek to make it look more contemporary.

“We love the traditions and craftsmanship of Japan and all of these elements are embraced into the KOYORI project.
The first time when we unpacked the prototype in Copenhagen directly coming from Japan, the quality was already incredible, and it was like receiving a gift.” say the designers.

GamFratesi also brought a sense of poetry to KOYORI, by naming the chair “Miau”. The name is, needless to say, referring to a cat - something alive and also their source of inspiration. Not only the particular shape of the armrest reminds us of a palm or ear of a cat, the designers have also tried to convey the motif through the wooden material. The sense of comfort and peacefulness when you touch the furniture can very well be equated with the experience and feeling you get when you gently caress a cat.

The armrests and the backrest are made of a single bentwood achieving uniformity and beauty of wood grain. This has also made the design more durable than if it had been constructed from separate pieces connected together. To ensure maximum sitting comfort, the wooden seat and backrest are curved three-dimensionally, whereas the upholstered cushion uses molded plywood, curved and combined precisely with the seat pad.

Contemporary design combined with craftsmanship and tradition have created this delicate and beautiful chair. Characteristic as it is for solid wood, the Miau chair will get more and more beautiful with each passing year.