merav perez [senior] lecturer + [experimental] designer
UNDER A BLAZING SUN
An article published in Programma Magazine (Summer 2011), unfolding the pivotal position of the Israeli monobloc chair: "despite its incredible success over the past three decades, little has been written about the local monobloc chair, and its history has never been told in full. White plastic chairs, white shutter walls, sun-heated water tanks (and, in certain areas in Israel/Palestine, the separation wall) shape and determine the appearance of the local landscape, yet are largely absent from the discourse on design. Instead, local designers and scholars prefer to focus on international trends, to nostalgically study past styles or to forecast future trends. And, yet, their immediate surroundings are overtaken by functional, modular, cheap, simple objects that are rapidly cast in plastic or concrete, and that are capable of withstanding the rapid deterioration processes imposed by the country’s harsh sunlight and political climate."
Perez, Merav. "Under a Blazing Sun". Programma. Vol. 4. Tel Aviv: Crossfields, Summer 2011, pp. 104-120 (in Hebrew version, pp. 32-35)
Editorial design: Studio Blue Collar Tel Aviv