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A symbol of Louis XVI’s style, the Medallion Chair is the iconic chair chosen by Monsieur Christian Dior in 1947 for his Parisian atelier at 30 Avenue Montaigne, Paris, whose purpose was, as recounted by the designer himself in his memoirs: “to seat guests during fashion shows in a sober, simple and above all classic and Parisian decor.”
On the occasion of Miami Art Week, and already previewed at the Milan Fuorisalone, the Medallion Chair is back in full force at the Medallion Chair, located near the new Superblue, in Allapattah, in collaboration with Design Miami/ .
It did so with the extraordinary contribution of 17 internationally renowned designers. Among them, some have maintained the peculiar characteristics of the chair: essential seat and oval back; others have completely overturned the canons.
Among the supporters of the faithful-in-shape interpretation of Christian Dior’s classic Medallion Chair are India Mahdavi, Nacho Carbonell, and Atang Tshikare, while others, including Nendo, Linde Freya Tangelder have made it a completely new chair.
In addition to the classic form, it is interesting to know the story behind some of the reinterpretations. For example, that of Atang Tshikare, who created Dinaledi for the occasion: a chair decorated with beads and entirely handmade by a group of women from the Xhosa people of Cape Town, South Africa. Stars are represented in the chair: an important symbol both for the founder of the Maison and for the designer himself: their realization required more than six months of work and they can be perceived also by visually impaired people: ”I realised that some people don’t see the stars physically, because they’re visually impaired in some way. This debossing would help bridge the visual gap and, in a way, help people actually feel the stars,” said the designer.
French designer India Mahdavi looked to local craft techniques for her five versions of Medallion chairs.
The exhibition was inaugurated with a cocktail reception attended by celebrities, including supermodel Karlie Kloss, tennis star Venus Williams and Latin music artist Ricky Martin.
Among the artists who have revisited the chair, in addition to the above mentioned were: Sam Baron, Pierre Charpin, Dimorestudio, Khaled El Mays, Martino Gamper, Constance Guisset, Joy de Rohan Chabot, Seungjin Yang, Ma Yansong, Jinyeong Yeon, Tokujin Yoshioka and Pierre Yovanovitch.
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