Pierre Cronje’s Oversized Chair

So long musical chairs, we’re singing a different tune – one of an oversized Karoo chair, to be precise. We chatted to Pierre Cronje about his World Design Capital 2014 project, Take a Seat, inspired by the larger-than-life sculptures of Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman.

What would you like to achieve with Take a Seat?

The giant Karoo chair is part art installation and part functional fun. We want to create a conversation-starter and prompt the public to view Cape Town as a hub of creativity and design opportunities. Celebrating local innovation has the potential to eradicate the popularity of Asian imports, and increase the support for our country’s furniture industry.

Our other WDC2014-accredited project is Our People’s Factory, which provides our employees with a platform to demonstrate their furniture-making skills, and also educates and inspires the community. This in turn creates jobs, and promotes local design and the rebuilding of the woodwork industry. These demonstrations will occur throughout the year.

Why did you choose the Karoo chair?

We were the first to reimagine the traditional Sandveld riempie chair into the simplified Karoo version, so widely copied today. It was first manufactured for our Simply Pierre range, launched in March 2011 and is made using traditional joinery methods. It is a fine example of local furniture design and craftsmanship. The contemporary yellow-ribbon seat is our show of support for the WDC2014 initiative.

For more information, visit pierrecronje.co.za

You can view Pierre Cronje’s oversized chair at the Clock Tower at the V&A Waterfront in Cape Town until 15 August 2014. The chair is likely to be moved to the Cape Town International Airport in September, so make sure you check it out while it’s still in the city. Take a pic next to the chair and tweet us at @VISI_Mag. We’d love to see you there!