Berlin-based architect and designer Adorján Portik has shared with us the first details of his new ‘Halfway to the Infinite’ furniture series, a set of twelve armchairs he will create for each month of the year.

The project, now about halfway completed, is targeted at students and fellow artists and seeks to stimulate a sense of discovery and creative inspiration in those who interact with it. 

Embedded within each chair emerges the naturalism that comes with each change of the seasons. November’s design evokes barren forests while, contrastingly, June’s is bedecked with a canvas ship’s sail meant to embody maritime activity and summer leisure.

Architects will be particularly fond of the March chair, whose seat is a facsimile of an unrolled spool of plotter paper. Portik’s materials range from stainless steel wire mesh to woven rug-like tapestries in the others.

The selection of synthetic materials betrays a deep-rooted intent for the chairs to form as though harmonies with nature. Each design, therefore, has its own distinctive combination of psychological allure and consumer appeal (think Issey Miyake’s Monthly Colors series of clothing or the autumn-themed paintings produced by Paul Klee and Jackson Pollock at the height of their respective careers).

Taken as a whole, “this project is a meditative journey from passive to interactive, inviting the viewer to move beyond spectator and to participate in the experience,” says Portik.

Artists Katalin Csibi, Dan Toma, and Anna Kawka were instrumental in helping Portik realize his vision.