The Stabelle chair, an archetypical alpine chair that has been in use for centuries is still an everday sight throughout alpine regions, and therefore lends itself for new interpretations. Under the title of ‘New/Familiar’, the ‘Happen Projects’ collective invited various designers to engage in an interaction with an industrially produced Stabelle with the aim to bring together contemporary design and alpine tradition. According to Giovanna Lisignoli, the initiator of Happen Projects, the archetypical chair – often customized with detailed and highly individual craft

processes – reflects narratives of alpine culture, thus alluding to multi-layered approaches in contemporary design practices. ‘Tête-à-tête – New design in historic living rooms’ presents works of these contemporary designers in the Engadine Museum St. Moritz. Thirteen adapted chairs enter into a dialogue with the historical interiors and the almost 80 Stabellen that belong to the museum. The works invite to engage with the potential entailed in design as well as the creative strategies of today’s designers. Exhibited in conjunction with historical Stabellen, they provoke questions about the past and the current roles of seating furniture, or perhaps about ways in which richly and ornate chairs came to represent the status of wealthy and affluent families. The discussion about the Stabelle directs our attention for once to the chair, an everyday object, which is often given too little attention in the context of a museum for alpine culture of habitation in comparison to more prestigious objects.
Charlotte Schütt

Director Engadine Museum

July 5th to October 31st 2013

Engadin Museum
Via dal Bagn 39, CH-7500 St. Moritz,
T +41 81 833 43 33