The year 2009 marks the beginning of the collaboration between the internationally renowned designer Karim Rashid and RIVA 1920. Reflecting on the experience of designing KAIRO, Karim Rashid says: “When I designed the KAIRO chair for RIVA 1920 I was inspired by the woodworking process that takes place in order to produce a piece of furniture from a single block of wood. The unusual double-arc form carved into the chair draws its inspiration from a recent trip to Egypt where I was particularly struck by these lines that seem to conjure up an eye”. The photos illustrate different production phases of the KAIRO chair: the solid cedar block, previously squared off, is placed inside a special machine that carves the block around to obtain the required shape. To obtain the final shape of the armchair, the machine works nonstop for over 8 hours. The final smoothing, all done by hand, takes another four hours of work.
They are products made of solid wood and are completely natural and hand-finished, without other treatments; further movements, cracks or changing of the wood are unique characteristics of the furniture and are due to the natural settlement and to the different environmental conditions.
Italy
