Martino Gamper Exhibition

words by niall roeder

Martino Gamper is a London-based, Italian-born furniture designer and around ten years ago he kicked off a project called 100 Chairs in 100 Days. The self-explanatory initiative saw the super creative Gamper using bits and pieces that he found on the street or in friends’ homes to build a chair, every day, for 100 days.

You got to admit, it’s quite a feat.

Ron Hubbard spewed out an obscene amount of pulp fiction during his time, and since ’96 Nick Skitz has blessed us with multiple Skitzmix’s each year, but is the quality there? I have to admit, I haven’t read any of L. Ron’s works, nor have I listened to every Skitzmix, but I’ll go out on a limb and say that the quality doesn’t compare to that of Gamper’s 100 chairs. And to be starting and finishing a new concept every day adds to how impressive his feat actually was.

Having limits on materials and time meant that decisions need to be made forcibly, something you can picture the stereotypical artist de-testing with a don’t-confine-me-maaaan type whinge. A creative mission with restrictions, 100 Chairs in 100 Days was a challenge for Gamper. And one that most think he tackled pretty bloody well.

“There is no perfect design and there is no über-design. Objects talk to us personally. Some might be more functional than others, and the emotional attachment is very individual” – Martino Gamper

For Gamper, furniture design is more than just looking good and being comfortable, it’s personal and expressive – it’s art. The bearded Italian blends styles and structural elements, generating thought-provoking, poetic, and often funny Franken-chairs. 

100 Chairs in 100 Days was first shown in London in ‘07, and has since be to Milan Triennale, San Francisco and is now set to rock Wellington. Ninety-nine chairs of the original 100 will be on show, with a new 100^th chair specially made by Gamber to complete the New Zealand package.

Martino Gamper: 100 Chairs in 100 Days will show at City Gallery Wellington from April 8 – 13, 2017.