So what was it like to lug a 150kg steel chair up a sand dune in the Riyadh desert? “Very, very hard!” laughs Muotaz Abbas, the designer of the piece. “I paid the guys triple their usual rate to do the job, and because it was so heavy I ended up helping them.”
Made from 300 sheets of stainless steel welded together, the extraordinary piece of furniture art is titled TR03 and was made over eight months in Italy. “Seeing the chair in the beautiful sand, reflecting the colours of the sky and the desert… it was amazing,” says Abbas, 30. “Looking at the photographs now, it looks futuristic but also timeless.”
Abbas often experiments with technology and Artificial Intelligence in his creative process but for TR03, he returned to more organic methods of manufacture and design. “People get attached to authentic products that have been hand crafted because they appreciate the time and effort it took to make them,” he says. “Everyone has access to AI now but there’s a big gap between these beautiful AI images and real manufacturing – I want to bridge that gap.”
Does he worry that, one day, the human hand will be forced out of the design process completely by AI? “No, I don’t think we’ll ever lose human creativity,” he says. “Actually, I think it will come back even stronger.”
Glancing at the avant garde TR03 may not immediately encourage the viewer to actually sit on it. “That’s a common reaction,” says Abbas with a grin. “My designs are functional art, but they’re also made ergonomically. The chair is a real product. The height of the back, the angle of the seat, the length of the arms have all been considered and tested over a four-year period. People look at the chair and think it looks uncomfortable so I invite them to sit on it. I love seeing their reaction when they say it feels good.”
With a background in architecture, Abbas believes functionality is important in his work. “Many people say function should follow form, but my mind works the other way around,” he explains. “My philosophy is about bringing bold ideas and innovation to design and manufacture that’s different to anything that’s already in the market. It’s a new language and I’m trying to push the boundaries.”
Born in Saudi Arabia, Abbas lived and worked in Los Angeles from 2011 to 2019 but returned to Riyadh to immerse himself in the city’s burgeoning art scene. “There’s a creative energy here and a lot of opportunity in art and design, especially with the giga projects,” he says. “I think art and design are appreciated in Riyadh so, as an artist, it’s the right time to be here.”
Abbas works from a studio in JAX, an industrial estate packed with renovated warehouses in the historic town of Diriyah on the outskirts of Riyadh that has become the city’s art district. “JAX is an inspiring place to be,” says Abbas. “I meet and share ideas with designers, artists, fashion designers and musicians. Talking with creatives from the Middle East and international countries can lead to many collaborations and possibilities. Coming to Riyadh energised my mind. In Los Angeles it took me months to come up with ideas, but in Riyadh it’s a matter of days. Here, my mind never stops expanding.”