THE CROWN JEWELS By Flora Mottini

November 18 – 2021
Written by Sanna Fehrman

Massproductions launches Face Lift, a new concept that aims to simplify the care and restoration of customers’ existing furniture. Face Lift is a global network of skilled upholsterers, but also a source of care guides on how to best preserve your furniture. Face Lift is also embodied in the new series “The Crown Jewels”, where Massproductions has invited four artists to recondition used Crown Armchairs. The first of these collaborations is with the Geneva-based artist Flora Mottini and is presented today.

When Massproductions received eight worn and dirty Crown Armchairs from a project earlier this year, they took the opportunity to give them new life. The purpose was to inspire customers to express their personality and show the possibilities of restoration. They contacted four artists who were commissioned to interpret the used chairs and make it their own. Today, artist Flora Mottini’s interpretation is presented.

How did you artistic journey start?
Since I was 20 years old, I have worked in different artistic fields, from interior design to theatre, and assisting students at the ECAL ( Ecole cantonale d’art de Lausanne). I have taken courses in graphic design, multimedia design, interior design and visual arts. I imagine that it’s through this somewhat eclectic path and all encounters along the way, I found a way I like working as an artist.

“I decided to try a more sculptural working method, as it is in a way about renewing an already used piece of furniture. It also felt more appropriate to reuse materials for the project, rather than buying new. I therefore chose to use a material that I am used to working with and that I had left in my studio.”

How did you go about this project? What has the process been like?
I first considered working on the Crown in paint. It seemed quit obvious to me because of its shape which presented a nice flat surface ideal for a pictorial application. However, I wasn’t satisfied with this direction, it felt too crafty, so I decided to try a more sculptural application. I collaborated with the photographer Estelle Spirig, so that we could put the objects in the most appropriate environment according to the transformation I had applied to them.

“When I work, I always start from a symbol, a recognizable figure, which I then distort and rework. In the end, we no longer know how it originally looked, but we can guess.”

– Flora Mottini,
Artist

How would you describe your artistic style?
I don’t know in terms of style, but my artistic practice is shaped around small imaginary stories in the form of islands. They themselves gather in the lagoon of the same archipelago, and in this pictorial space, the words bounce and are of the same substance as the images.

Flora wanted to change the look of Crown’s surface and at the same time let it retain its basic shape. Crown was therefore clad in a soft foam material, a residual product from previous art projects, which was applied in a beautiful pleated form.

“I am attracted to the aesthetics of the cartoons of the 30-50s, where spatial distortions, time travel and super dimensions often affect me. The notions of landscape, navigation, thresholds and horizon are present in my artistic practice. I take in impressions by observing things in my everyday life and environments I especially like, such as deserts, mountains and islands.”

What inspired you?
The desire to totally change the appearance of the surface of Crown, while keeping its basic and functional form. This is the way I work when I draw, and more specifically when I create the figures I call Cooltoons. I always start from a symbol, a recognizable figure, then I distort it and rework it so that we don’t really know what the original was like, but we can guess. Everyone projects what they want.

Whats next?
I am currently working on two future exhibitions that will take place in Switzerland in November 2021 and June 2022. I also work on a small monographic catalog and an edition with Miami books, to be published in spring 2022.

THE Crown Jewels

In the coming year, more collaborations in the series The Crown Jewels will be presented. The Crown Armchair was designed by Chris Martin in 2015. Flora Mottini’s interpretation of the Crown Armchair can be seen in an exhibition in Massproductions new store on Östgötagatan 29 from 13 December – 20 January.