Philippe Starck Sarapis Chair
This offering by Philippe Starck in typical signature Starck style is seriously “stark” indeed. The Sarapis is minimalist philosophy personified in the flesh. Consisting of a 4 long long steel legs painted anthracite grey with a unadorned steel wire mesh seat and backrest, the design is Spartan to the max. No frills and no trills involved, just hard industrial design.
The one thing that draws my immediate attention is how disproportionate it looks. The length of the legs seem to be just plain too long when taken as a whole. The footrests are just tiny, of Lilliputian proportions. The seat is so bare that it looks like a sheet of metal (which it is, steel mesh in fact).
I don’t know why but despite how weird it looks, I really like it. The quirky proportions seem to appeal to the child in me who still wishes that Giants and Fairy tales were real. The towering legs seem as daunting as the 2 Towers that Frodo had to scale in The Lord of the Rings. The curved backrest seems to have been stolen from an Angel’s Halo, the utter perfectness just stupefies me.
All in all, while others may take the Sarapis chair as minimalism gone wrong, I see unity in the elements, basic and true. I would not hesitate to add this to my wine bar furniture anytime.
