Copytopia N°19, White Plastic Garden Chair, Pierre Castignola

Amsterdam-based designer Pierre Castignola (France, 1995) graduated from Design Academy Eindhoven in 2018. Fascinated by semiotics and symbols, Castignola sets out to redefine the paradigm of creation and consumption. The vast array of contemporary objects, sculptures and furniture pieces that constitute his body of work reflect his radical and critical position while featuring surprising, surrealist outcomes. His practice specialises in producing unique custom pieces and installations for organisations and private clients. Copytopia, often viewed as the artist’s most emblematic project, explores the symbolic complexities of the iconic yet infamous monobloc plastic chair. In this series, Castignola uses discarded monoblocs as raw material, cutting and reassembling them to create a variety of everyday objects. By reusing existing pieces of furniture to constitute new ones, the artist aims to question the legitimacy of intellectual property while simultaneously prompting us to reevaluate our relationship with the objects around us. His work has been published in Elle decoration, Designboom, Hypebeast, Designwanted, Architectural Digest and Intramuros magazine, and exhibited in several countries, in cities such as Beijing, London, Paris and New York. In 2020, his piece Times Four Armchair was included in the French national collection (CNAP). Castignola’s first solo show, Monobloc Dinner party, took place at Atelier Ecru Gallery (Gent, Belgium) in 2022.