Ma Yansong Seating

The MAD Martian collection began with a question: What would the Chinese colonization of a Martian planet look like? This naturally led to more questions such as at what point does survival stop and architecture begin? Once survival is assured, what memory of Earth or love for their new home would these interplanetary colonizers recreate first? The MAD Martian collection is the result of Ma Yansong’s meditation on these issues. Ma is famed for his design philosophy of ‘Shanshui City’, which integrates elements of traditional Chinese landscape design and painting into large-scale urban architecture. The resulting forms are closely tied to elements of the natural environment, conveying both elegant and gnarly lines. With this collection, M continues to employ the Shanshui City design philosophy, putting the contours of the natural environment front and center of the design language, but transplanting it into a science fiction narrative. Ma conceived of the collection as being Noah Beyond The Ark. Timber, used to build the ark, saved the great Old Testament patriarch from the deluge. In MAD Martian, Ma reasoned that in the future, highly advanced materials will catapult those few lucky chosen ones into safe extra-terrestrial environments, beyond the apocalypse. To convey this idea, the first seven pieces in the collection were made using a combination of old and new techniques: advanced machining with hand-finishing and cutting-edge form making finished with artisanal detailing. The MAD Martian collection employs the design language of science fiction, established during the mid-20th century. Traces of the 1960s Space Race aesthetic are visible in the suspension lights, whereas the candelabras and the fish tank take their cue in part from later masterworks such as Alien and Blade Runner. This collection is the result of a two-year research and design development process. It started with a conversation between Yu Wang, co-founder and Director of Gallery ALL, and Ma about the theme of MAD Martian, and what a furniture collection of Chinese interplanetary pioneers would look like. On agreeing to produce the collection, the focus quickly turned to researching the history and current material language of science fiction movies, with specific reference to colonization of other planets and the ‘Space Odyssey,’ generally. Numerous discussions were had between the creative team at Gallery ALL, MAD architects...

The MAD Martian collection began with a question: What would the Chinese colonization of a Martian planet look like? This naturally led to more questions such as at what point does survival stop and architecture begin? Once survival is assured, what memory of Earth or love for their new home would these interplanetary colonizers recreate first? The MAD Martian collection is the result of Ma Yansong’s meditation on these issues. Ma is famed for his design philosophy of ‘Shanshui City’, which integrates elements of traditional Chinese landscape design and painting into large-scale urban architecture. The resulting forms are closely tied to elements of the natural environment, conveying both elegant and gnarly lines. With this collection, M continues to employ the Shanshui City design philosophy – putting the contours of the natural environment front and center of the design language – but transplanting it into a science fiction narrative. Ma conceived of the collection as being Noah Beyond The Ark. Timber, used to build the ark, saved the great Old Testament patriarch from the deluge. In MAD Martian, Ma reasoned that in the future, highly advanced materials will catapult those few lucky chosen ones into safe extra-terrestrial environments, beyond the apocalypse. To convey this idea, the first seven pieces in the collection were made using a combination of old and new techniques: advanced machining with hand-finishing and cutting-edge form making finished with artisanal detailing. The MAD Martian collection employs the design language of science fiction, established during the mid 20th Century. Traces of the 1960s Space Race aesthetic are visible in the suspension lights, whereas the candelabras and the fish tank take their cue in part from later masterworks such as Alien and Blade Runner. This collection is the result of a two-year research and design development process. It started with a conversation between Yu Wang, co-founder and Director of Gallery ALL, and Ma about the theme of MAD Martian, and what a furniture collection of Chinese interplanetary pioneers would look like. On agreeing to produce the collection, the focus quickly turned to researching the history and current material language of science fiction movies, with specific reference to colonization of other planets and the ‘Space Odyssey,’ generally. Numerous discussions were had between the creative team at Gallery ALL, MAD architects...