It is not difficult to understand why furniture designers are so inspired by the minimalists, this group of artists who sought to limit subjective influence on their pieces and strove to use as few techniques as possible. Ratio shares the sparseness of the modernists’ visual language, but something more is happening here. The carved-out niches of the side panels are almost reminiscent of the architecture of the Maya civilization in the jungle of Central America thousands of years ago. The square shapes also offer other visual, sculptural effects which bring to mind 1960’s op-art artists like Bridget Riley. The longer the viewer spends contemplating the chair’s formalist framework, the farther the gaze and the depths move. A journey both minimalist and visual.
