Japanese designer Kensaku Oshiro looked to a centuries-old creation of furniture maker Giuseppe Gaetano Descalzito when designing his latest chair.
Based in Milan, Oshiro was recently named as one of the Italian Rising Talents at this year's Maison&Objet fair, where he presented pieces designed for brands including Kristalia and Poltrona Frau.

Among these was the new CC01 chair, released this year under Oshiro's eponymous brand. It is intended to be a modern reinterpretation of the classic Chiavarina chair, created by Italian furniture maker Giuseppe Gaetano Descalzi in 1807.
"The goal wasn't to design a new chair from scratch, but to create a piece that can drag a tradition to the present time, something that preserves the original archetype's imprint," said Oshiro. The designer headed to the small Italian town of聽Chiavari, Genoa, where聽Descalzi's chair was originally made. Here, he closely observed the work process of traditional craftsmen still producing the Chiavarina.

Oshiro then made a template of the classic model, reworking it in a series of drawings and eventually 3D models until he settled on a final prototype that he felt "encountered past and present".
Wanting to optimise on comfort, Oshiro broadened the seat of the chair to allow users more freedom to move around, and slightly curved its backrest to more closely follow the natural shape of the body.
Oshiro, who believes the traditional Chiavarina chair was "conceived for a forma...