Ming's Heart

East and West. The Ming’s Heart project goes straight to the core of two worlds, two visions, two philosophies of life and living. Shi-Chieh Lu, a Taiwan based architect and designer, won the prestigious Taiwan Design Contest promoted by Poltrona Frau and Euchain Ltd., a long-established Taiwanese dealer. This contest aims to encourage the cultural exchange between East and West, between the values underlying the idea of design in Taiwan and Poltrona Frau identity.

The historic Ming chair is the reference model for this piece by Shi-Chieh Lu. The purity of its lines, the perfect expression of Chinese and Oriental spirituality, reverberates in the geometric and cubic formality of the Western vision.

Shi-Chieh Lu pares down surfaces until he achieves a continuous line. Armrests, seat and back become the lightest of fluid, graphic shapes. The profile is made from tubular steel. Weight and gravity are no longer determined by the lower part of the structure, but by the top from which the seat hangs. The shell is a continuous surface, a sort of triangle made from thin steel sheet, completely covered in saddle-leather. Its ends are fixed to the tubes with visible screws.

The final result is a chair that floats in space, almost like a futuristic swing or a conceptual sculpture. Lightly padded in polyurethane foam, thicker on the seat and lumbar cushion, the shell is upholstered in Cuoio Saddle Extra leather, with visible contrasting hand-stitching. Gunmetal grey galvanic treatment for the steel tubes creates an even more ethereal effect.