Meet Víctor Carrasco, Designer of the Maarten Chair

The second in a series of new chairs from Viccarbe, our longtime partner in coastal Spain, is Victor Carrasco’s Maarten Chair. The chair’s design focus — neither too formal nor too casual, equally suited to home and office — represents his “search for balance,” Carrasco said. Read more about his design inspirations in the Q&A below.

Watch for Maarten Plastic, a new version of the chair featuring a durable polypropylene seat and a range of bases, in early 2020.

1. Where do you look for inspiration for your work?

Victor Carrasco: Most of the time I draw in my mind, and eventually, inspiration arrives when I get to an interesting conclusion that I can translate on paper. It happens when traveling, training, sailing with my family — let’s say there’s not a specific place.

2. What prompted you to design the Maarten Chair in the way that you did?

VC: I understood we needed a timeless chair with comfortable forms, because the market was forgetting the universal fact that the human being is more important than the object. 1970s silhouettes, polished but wrinkled at the same time, were starting to be forgotten. And the design industry was paying more attention to rigorous forms: very focused on aesthetics, but almost unhuman.

I also wanted to pay an homage to the Belgian designer Maarten van Severen, who had passed away not long ago. He was pure elegance, representing a warm minimalism which deserved all my respect.

An upholstered swivel chair available in chair and stool heights, Maarten recalls the classic designs of the 1970s.

3. How does this chair reflect your soul or your personality?

VC: My personal and professional life are 100 percent based on balance. Maarten represents that search for balance — not too wrinkled, nor too formal; not exclusively for home, not just for the office. I think this has been the key ingredient of its great success.

4. In what way does this chair exemplify Mediterranean design?

I was born and still live in Valencia, Spain, a Mediterranean city that, over centuries, has been colonized by cultures as diverse as the Romans, Visigoths, Muslims and more. That mix shaped an extremely diverse DNA that makes me think we are naturally designed for promoting collaboration, adaptability and constantly thinking out of the box.

All of this, plus our more than 300 days of sun per year — and a gastronomic culture which makes us one of the most long-lived populations — is somehow represented in my designs: all of them sunny and long-lasting.

5. What would you say is special about the relationship between Viccarbe and Coalesse?

VC: I’m lucky to have experienced the creation of Coalesse, a brand that was born as a wonderful umbrella for the most talented designers in the U.S. And I feel very proud of actively collaborating with John Hamilton in the conception of new products.

Our enterprises may have different strategies, but they are very connected and complementary. We are united by a passion for listening, for always finding the ‘next next,’ for thinking out of the box. But above all, we are united by the fact that we make the person a priority. In a world that is more and more digital, I believe that a human focus will be more indispensable than ever.