Ontwerp voor een stoel c. 1928

Carel Adolph Lion Cachet made this pencil sketch of a chair sometime in his life. It’s all about lines, you know, those hesitant and yet purposeful strokes mapping out an idea, trying to pin down the essence of a chair before it even exists. I can just imagine Cachet, pencil in hand, circling the object, thinking about angles, maybe muttering to himself about proportions, or the sitter. What kind of person would sit in this chair? Someone upright and proud or someone louche and comfortable? Was he trying to break down the traditional idea of a chair, or maybe imbue it with a new kind of spirit? These lines almost feel like a conversation between his hand and the paper, figuring something out in real time. He must have been considering not just the utility of the chair, but also its presence, its personality, and its place in the world. It is really interesting to see the process made visible here. It makes you wonder how many other artists and designers started with a simple sketch like this, letting their ideas unfurl one line at a time.