1990, for the Moonsoon Restaurant in Sapporo, Japan, varnished steel, the seat and backrest upholstered and covered with sheepskin, height 74 cm, width 50 cm, depth 61 cm, height of seat 44 cm. (DRAX)

These chairs were not used for the Moonsoon Restaurant, but were custom-made according to Zaha Hadid’s instructions for a collector and friend and handed over to her by Zaha Hadid in 1992 together with a third chair, which remains in private ownership.

With accompaining correspondence and invoice dated 28. 8. 1992.

Lit.:
A. Betsky, Zaha Hadid: The Complete Buildings and Projects, New York 1998, p. 56 – C. Slessor, Early Works of Zaha Hadid, The Architectural Review, 2, 2011.

Provenance:
private ownership, Austria, since 1992

For the Moonsoon Restaurant in Sapporo, Zaha Hadid drew her inspiration from the region’s extreme climate. She conceived a room arranged on two levels: fire and ice. Warm red and orange tones and flickering, flame-like forms prevail in the section of the interior devoted to fire, whereas the zone devoted to ice is dominated by greys and cold metal. It was in this part of the restaurant that the chairs with the white sheepskin coverings were used.

“For a two-fold programme of formal eating and relaxed lounging we wanted to create an opposite of moods. The result is two synthetic and strange worlds: fire and ice. Inspired by the seasonal ice buildings of Sapporo, the ground floor features cool greys materialized in glass and metal. Tables are sharp fragments of ice; a raised floor level drifts like an iceberg across the space.” (Zaha Hadid in A. Betsky, The Complete Buildings and Projects)

© Paul Warchol