The Ray Sofa and Ray Chair by Antonio Pio Saracino

The Ray Sofa and Ray Chair are an exploration of the structural components found in the natural world and the ways in which they can find expression in design. Each ‘sofa’ and ‘chair’ is constructed with a cellular assemblage of ‘rays’ of closed-cell foam. The chairs generated with algorithm design, when viewed from above, are reminiscent of an array of pixels or likewise the way that crystals can be formed in nature. These assembled rays of foam create a soft and comfortable seat in the shape of an unconventional chair. The Ray Chairs change their geometry into a fluid form under the body’s weight and shape. The designer, Antonio Pio Saracino, introduces geometries that remind him of the city where he comes from, Rome, and the city where he lives, New York. He draws inspiration from the church’s Roman baroque tradition of the sacred iconography of the sculptural spiritual light and by the skyscraper’s skylight of New York.