French studio CPRV presents Azukimé — a low chair of riveted bent aluminum sheets, manufactured in France, now showing at the «Contemporains» group exhibition in Paris.
Azukimé is an evolution of the Azuki wooden chair designed by CPRV a couple of years prior, which also housed storage under the seat. This latest iteration delivers a different seating experience — more relaxed, offering a generous width with unusual proportions in a painted aluminium finish that creates an intriguing presence at home.
The construction is direct and legible: bent aluminum sheets joined by rivets, a process that leaves the logic of assembly visible on the surface. There is no concealment in the making. Each fold and fastening point reads as part of the object's formal language, giving the chair a character somewhere between industrial production and handcraft.
In its proportions, Azukimé sits close to the ground and wide in the seat — an invitation to settle rather than perch. The painted aluminium finish softens the material's associations with workshop and factory, placing it firmly in a domestic register while retaining a certain toughness that distinguishes it from upholstered alternatives.
Azukimé is currently on view at «Contemporains», a group exhibition by A1043 showcasing contemporary French industrial design practices, running until April 4 in Paris. It is a quiet argument for the kind of furniture that reveals its intelligence slowly — in the precision of a bend, the rhythm of a rivet line, the economy of means.
