Optimism Is The New Black
September 8, 2009 • 1:35 pm • POSTED BY tim beitz
Back in July, we heard the call from Design Within Reach for their Paulistano Uncovered, a design competition celebrating Brazilian architect Paulo Mendes da Rocha’s 1957 chair design. We’re thrilled to announce our own Adam R. Garcia was chosen as Philadelphia’s winner with his contemporary take on the chair’s constructivist style.
Always the number one motivator, Adam’s Optimism Script chair is a testament to happiness. A whimsical contrast to the strict and functional modernism of the late-1950s International Style, this hand-drawn pattern consists of motivational sayings, meditative words, and overall positivity to literally surround you with joy. The illustration is a hybrid of calligraphy and graffiti, “calligraffiti” if you will. If Optimism is the New Black, it’s good, because happiness transcends trend.
On August 27th, Design Within Reach graciously hosted an exhibition of the chair at their Walnut Street store. To compliment the event and celebrate the chair’s genesis, we went a step further creating storefront signage, posters, and a promotional campaign, taking the chair to the streets to bring optimism outside the living room. To see the “The Optimism Chair” portfolio, click here.
We’re all very happy with the results, and we’d like to thank our crew that helped make this happen, and Design Within Reach for giving designers in Philadelphia a chance to do something different.
Design Within Reach Blog /// http://blog.dwr.com/
Adam R. Garcia /// http://thepressure.org
The Optimism Chair Portfolio /// PDF Download
Like the idea of happiness and Optimism, just smile more it is great time to be young.
How are you all today? Love your post a lot! I My daughter told me about your webpage. Cool!
I love this design! I saw it in How Magazine today, and fell in love with it! Do you sell posters of the images above? I would really like to purchase one.
If you can contact me at my email address provided, that would be great!
[...] 2010 HOW International Design Annual. In the 3D objects category we received a Merit award for the Optimism Script Chair created for Design Within Reach, Philadelphia. We also received a Merit award for Use Your You [...]