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march 25, 2021 - Pedrali

Ara: 10 years together


Pedrali celebrates the tenth #anniversary of the seating designed by Jorge Pensi #design Studio

2021 marks for Pedrali a special #anniversary: ten years of #ara collection, designed by Jorge Pensi. A seating made in polypropylene featuring an aesthetic, well-balanced language, that becomes so unique thanks to the peculiar handle placed at the end of the backrest.

A successfull collection that came to life spontaneously, almost naturally, while sitting at the table of an airport bar, as Jorge Pensi remembers: “in 2011 I went with Diego, a collaborator of mine, to the showroom of #pedrali to discuss a new project with Giuseppe. The briefing was about a chair made from a polypropylene monoblock, with and without armrests. Once we arrived at the airport on our way home to Barcellona, we found out that our flight was delayed and so, while waiting, sitting in a bar, I drew #ara on a paper napkin. And it was at the precise moment I drew it, that I immediately thought the handle had to become the peculiarity of this seating collection in order to make it recognizable and timeless”.

Ten years later, #ara is one of the most iconic #pedrali products, picked by architects and interior designers from all over the world to decor home and contract projects. “I suppose that the reason why #ara is still a trend even today lies in its neutral shapes, in its extreme comfort and in the quality of the material used, as well as in its peculiar element” – explains the designer. The handle on the back has become the distinctive trait of the collection, while making it at the same time stylistically recognizable and easy to handle, with ease and elegance.

Jorge Pensi was born in Buenos Aires in 1946 and he studied architecture in his home city. Dreaming of new horizons and challenges, he left Argentina in 1975 and, after crossing the ocean, he settled in Barcelona where in 1984 he set up Jorge Pensi #design Studio. His collaboration with #pedrali began in 2008 with Ypsilon table, while Ara is the first seating he has ever designed for the company.

“Ara is a seating made from a monoblock of injection-moulded polypropylene. We selected this material precisely for this purpose” – reveals the designer, and continues – “being generally placed under the table, the first thing you notice in a chair is its backrest. So we decided that the backrest had to be elegant, focusing on the handle while at the same time concealing the stackability”.

The collection comprises a chair, an armchair and a lounge, the latter introduced a few years later, in 2015. As Jorge Pensi tells, “the lounge version features the same characteristics of the collection while allowing new possibilities of use: it fits in residential living rooms as well as outdoors. The shape and the characteristics of #ara allow an optimal use in both outdoor and indoor environments, as well as in residential or collective spaces”.

The popularity of this seating is highlighted by its presence within numerous projects. #ara joined the Starfiel Library in Seoul, one of the most beautiful libraries on earth in which volumes and magazine from all over the world are gathered, located in the biggest mall of Asia. #ara was selected to furnish also other spaces, such as Convento della Ripa cloister in Albino, close to Bergamo, a place full of architectural and historical suggestions, or Primo Restaurant courtyard in Lecce, where the guests can taste their dinner surrounded by an intimate and charming atmosphere. Lounge armchairs also dressed the streets of Città Alta in Bergamo on the occasion of the international exhibition “I Maestri del Paesaggio”.

“It is exciting, while traveling around the world, to stumble upon projects that were born in our own studio, to see that people chose them, that they use them. In those moments we become aware of the sense of our job and this encourages us to keep going” – concludes the designer.