ZAMPA

JASPER MORRISON

MATERIALS
Ash of European origin and legal wood cutting.

LOW STOOL
COUNTER STOOL
BAR STOOL
CHAIR
ARMCHAIR NEW

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GALLERY

MC 18 — ZAMPA
LOW STOOL — RED ANILINE ON ASH
BY JASPER MORRISON

MC 18 — ZAMPA
COUNTER STOOL — NATURAL WAX ON ASH
BY JASPER MORRISON

MC 18 — ZAMPA
CHAIR — NATURAL WAX ON ASH
BY JASPER MORRISON

MC 18 — ZAMPA
BAR STOOL — WALNUT STAIN ON ASH
BY JASPER MORRISON

MC 18 — ZAMPA
CHAIR — NATURAL WAX ON ASH WITH FABRIC UPHOLSTERY
BY JASPER MORRISON

MC 18 — ZAMPA
CHAIR — BLACK ANILINE ON ASH
BY JASPER MORRISON

MC 18 — ZAMPA
ARMCHAIR — NATURAL WAX ON ASH
BY JASPER MORRISON

MC 18 — ZAMPA
ARMCHAIR — RED ANILINE ON ASH
BY JASPER MORRISON

MC 18 — ZAMPA
ARMCHAIR — YELLOW ANILINE ON ASH
BY JASPER MORRISON

MC 18 — ZAMPA
ARMCHAIR — NATURAL WAX ON ASH WITH FABRIC UPHOLSTERY
BY JASPER MORRISON

THE COLLECTION
2023 NOVELTY - ZAMPA ARMCHAIR

Konstantin Grcic: ZAMPA started with a simple stool … then came a chair and now an armchair. It would not be unusual to design all three models at the same time – but it wasn’t like that. You designed one piece after the other. Is the slowness the strength of these designs… That they had time to evolve, one at a time and building on each other?
Jasper Morrison: What I love about the Zampa family is that it all happened in the opposite order. Normally you’d start with the chair or the armchair and the stools would be the add on to complete the family. If Mattiazzi had asked for an armchair first there’s no way it would have looked anything like it does. But they asked for a stool and nothing else, so I was able to focus on achieving something quite simple and essential, before continuing a year later to convert it into a chair, and another year on to add the armchair, and after that the request came for an upholstered seat. The order and the slowness both played their part in the design.

KG: For the new design, you could have simply attached armrests to the chair. Instead, you decided to make it a purebred armchair that claims a certain independence from the other ZAMPA models. Your designs are always characterised by a mental clarity. How much searching and pondering precedes this clarity?
JM: You might have forgotten your instructions at the start of the project: to scale the armchair up, and give it a bit more importance. Another thing that comes to mind is Rolf Fehlbaum (Vitra’s Chairman) telling me that Charles Eames told him that the most difficult thing to design is an armrest, and I would agree with that, even more difficult if you’re adding it to a previously designed chair. But as usual we started by trying to do just that, and as usual something was not right about it, it didn’t look natural no matter how many adjustments we made. When you get to that point you have two options, to keep on the same path most likely heading for thicker and thicker jungle or to turn off the path on what might at first seem a less reliable track. That has a freeing effect for the project because suddenly all options are open again. Never mind that the armchair has its own character, I think it makes a collection richer to have these differences. I find the searching and pondering phase the most enjoyable. You know the design is there somewhere, it’s a question of finding it. Sometimes it’s quick and sometimes it’s not, luckily we are not under pressure to work as fast as other design disciplines.

KG: The new armchair is made in ash, but it also comes in a number of colours. What is your attitude to the material and colour of your products? Do you follow a strict vision, or are you rather easy going about the subject?
JM: On a scale of 1 to 10 I’m probably a 9 pretending to be a 6. There are colours and finishes that I can’t stand but I realise it’s foolish to imagine you have all the answers for everyone so I try to be flexible and absorb the pain of seeing things I’ve designed in colours and finishes I dislike.

COLLECTION PRESS RELEASE

ZAMPA is a light, graceful stool with gently curving legs. It has only a few elements and a minimum of joins in keeping with the rigorous expectations of its designer, Jasper Morrison. Its round, flat seat is a technical achievement in that it is simply structured to provide some flex and therefore a surprising softness in how it sits.

“I noticed some old country stools, handmade with curved stick legs and roughly connected to circular solid wood seats. This design is a reminder of this very direct solution to having something to sit on. Their charm and character are irresistible though they couldn’t be more direct and everyday in a practical sense. This new version is light and adaptable for use as a stool or small side table beside the bed, in the bathroom or wherever they’re needed.”

“Design is an unpredictable process. While designing the ZAMPA stools I never imagined we would add a chair to the family. If Mattiazzi had asked me to design a chair first I very much doubt it would be as good as this one. Seen as a family it looks perfectly natural that there’s a chair, and I think the chair brings a lot of extra character to the stools which on their own might have seemed a bit minimal to some.”

DESIGNER

JASPER MORRISON