This chair at Embajada Gallery in San Juan features Taino Weaving on a reproduction of a Henry Klumb ARKLU Studio chair. Henry Klumb is a German-born architect who lived and worked in San Juan, Puerto Rico from 1944 until his death in 1984. Klumb founded ARKLU, a design studio which produced furniture and utility objects from locally grown materials.
Jorge González, an artist who produces these chairs today, currently has an exhibition at Embajada Gallery in Hato Rey, San Juan, Puerto Rico featuring the work of Taino weavers, combined with modernist elements from Klumb’s designs for ARKLU. The Taino are pre-Columbian natives of the island who have all but been wiped out. Taino woven chairs once would have been commonplace objects of utility, but are now generally considered to be art objects due to their rare character. By maintaining the traditions of their craft via collaborations such as this one with Jorge González, the Taino are able to keep their culture alive in contemporary Puerto Rico.
Learn more about this project here: