In 1971, Hans Hopfer introduced the forward-looking Mah Jong sofa for Roche Bobois as an ode to function and form. The premise was simple: with near-infinite configurations, people will have the freedom to rearrange their living spaces as they see fit. Now, almost 50 years after its debut, the French design staple has undergone a dramatic transformation at the hands of Portuguese artist Joana Vasconcelos, who uses such handicraft techniques as embroidery and crochet to create vibrant large-scale sculptures that comment on cultural identity and feminism. And in the reimagined Mah Jong, her careful treatment of identity is clear: The sofa’s recognizable square cushions retain their DNA, but Vasconcelos wove in a fantastically sculptural dimension that rethinks its entire look and feel.
“I’ve been doing a line of tri-dimensional paintings that simultaneously show a pictorial and sculptural object,” says Vasconcelos, who applied this idea to Mah Jong. Woven onto each polyester cushion is a custom black-stripe crocheted pouf that Vasconcelos crafted in the same language as her Crochet Paintings series, in which artful arrays of her cushions are affixed to a wooden canvas. Now, with her touch, the sofa takes on that role. “Each module functions as a canvas for people to sit,” says Vasconcelos, a self-described Baroque artist who invites viewers to freely engage with each piece. The sofa, along with five other reimagined Roche Bobois pieces, will preside over the outdoor terrace of Miami’s Pérez Art Museum until December 5 during Art Basel.
