Proto | A4 Arts Foundation

Proto is the store at A4 Arts Foundation – a place for practitioners to play with the premise of the museum shop. For Cape Town Furniture Week, Daniel Malan has curated a presentation of four instructional pieces titled Assembling Chairs.

Three chairs have been recreated from the Italian designer Enzo Mari’s book autoprogettazione, which he translates as ‘exercises in design conducted by an individual’. The book provides basic techniques for constructing furniture using wooden boards and nails. The fourth chair was designed by architect Erik Eie Almqvist, who was inspired by Mari and revisited the historic Tilting Shaker Chair.

Alongside this, the exhibition features a curated selection of publications on furniture and DIY design from A4’s library. Enzo Mari’s book, as well as the materials to build your own autoprogettazione chair, will be available for sale in Proto the store at A4 Arts Foundation.