On occasion of Design Week 2025, Zaza’ presents an exhibition of American artist and designer Jonathan Muecke’s carbon fiber furnitures. Self-produced by Muecke through proprietary methods developed over the last years, the objects featured in the exhibition exemplify Muecke’s iterative approach to furniture-making. Alike other series by Muecke, they are the result of a methodical research in assembly logics, proportion and composition based on the aesthetic and technical possibilities of a single material which Muecke declines in diverse objects of common use such as chairs, benches or tables. The carbon fiber pieces presented at Zaza’ are built from a woven material with exceptional mechanical properties despite being practically weightless given its unique atomic composition. In the objects presented, the tubular and sheet elements used by Muecke are configured through a mixed range of joining techniques including slotting, casting, looping, pressing which confer a unique tectonic and aesthetic to the works.

Presented for the first time in Italy, Muecke’s carbon tube objects are part of an open and evolving series consisting of both finite products and custom designs. The flexibility of the material as well as the precise assembly logics developed by Muecke has resulted in a principle-based design which can take multiple forms. For the the duration of Design Week, Zaza’ presents six items: 4 tubular chairs and two variants on a table design with table tops in Verde Antico and Copacabana marble.

Photo credits Jeroen Verrecht