Everything started with a chair.
“There are more chairs than asses,” said Bruno Munari. An ironic, almost provocative sentence that accompanied me throughout my whole research…
The chair I am sitting on right now is a simple IKEA office chair, bought second-hand on Willhaben. At first glance, it is just a functional object, but looking closer, it tells much more. Its shape suggests concentration, the colour and materials speak of a simple and minimalist aesthetic, while the marks left by time tell something about the people who used it before me.
Even a small detail can become a story: the lever to raise and lower the seat, for example, has been chewed by a pet. Probably a curious cat that did not see this object only as a chair, but as something to explore. A place to rest, play or attract the attention of the person who spent hours sitting there.
During the first semester, I explored the communication of objects through perception, semiotics and design. I discovered that objects are never neutral: even before using them, we interpret them through what we see. Shape, materials, colours, proportions and signs of use suggest meanings and ways of relating to them.
A handle suggests how it should be grabbed, a chair suggests a posture, a worn object tells a story. But meaning never completely belongs to the object itself: it is created through the encounter between what has been designed and the person who observes, uses and experiences it.
From here comes a new question: if objects communicate, what happens when they meet people?
I want to understand how people interpret objects and how, through their experiences, they create new meanings.
Because maybe it is not only the object that tells something. We also create a story around it through the way we look at it and use it. The same chair can become a workplace, a place for a break or simply the spot where we leave something at the end of the day. The object stays the same, but the story changes.
In this second semester, I want to observe these encounters: through stories, observations and experiments, I will try to understand how objects are perceived, interpreted and reinvented in everyday life.
Because maybe objects do not communicate fixed meanings.
They communicate possibilities.
