riera hippopotamus chair
Design Maximo Riera,
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Glass fiber reinforced plastic, genuine leather
"The Hippopotamus is a semiaquatic herbivore mammal, peculiar for its barrel-shaped torso, and is one of the most aggressive and unpredictable creatures in the world. For this design, its tremendous size and volume has been preserved, evading any sections or partitions along its body, in order to accomplish an entire life-size piece. The seat was mounted on top of the animal’s upper body, having two different hemispheres, one is functional and the other creates the illusion of the animal’s imposing presence.
The piece resembles an adult male ‘Horse River’, as it was named by the ancient Greeks, with an approximate weight of three tones and a body length of almost three meters. One of their most characteristic features is their enormous ivory teeth. The canines can reach up to fifty centimeters, being exposed even when their mouth is closed, sharpening themselves as they grind together.
The skin pattern has been carefully replicated and reproduced to acquire the corrugation and surface imperfections, distinctive of their shape.
This captivating animal has been overshadowed many times by other notorious mammals in the savanna, but its intrepidity and tenacity is well know in their environment. The Zulu warriors preferred to be as brave as an hippopotamus, since even lions were not consider to match their courage."
2300 w | 1200 d | 1000 h
Artist Máximo Riera is into some pretty wild art.Riera's gorgeous Animal Chair Collection features a wide range of animals-turned-chairs, including 3-D sculptures of a rhinoceros, elephant, hippopotamus, beetle, and walrus, to name a few.According to Riera's studio's website, the work honors the animal kingdom in "an attempt to reflect and capture the beauty of nature in each living thing."