Ron Arad's 'transparency'

London designer Ron Arad has created a polycarbonate version of his famous Well Tempered Chair for the forthcoming exhibition of his work at the Barbican in London. Called Well Transparent Chair, the piece is made in a limited edition of 100 and consists of bent plastic sheets bolted together under tension. The chair’s apparent immateriality induces an anxiety about its ability to support us – it is, in fact, comfortable and sound – unexpectedly so. This playful duplicity between how a work looks and how it feels is one of the reasons why the original ‘Well Tempered Chair’ has proved such an enduring work.