Some ideas endure. We find traces of the same thought repeated throughout human record, mimicked across disciplines. And so the thought becomes more than an idea — it becomes a concept, a meme, an archetype.

© Scheltens & Abbenes

The travelers who met along the ancient Chinese Silk Road fantasized about carpets as a way to travel from place to place, sitting on carpets when they told their stories. The fantasy was brought West in the stories of Arabian Nights and reimagined centuries later in the minds of children watching Prince Aladdin fly through an animated night sky.

Lincoln Center © Tsien Architects / Actelion Dusiness Center © Actelion Pharmaceuticals Ltd

These days, we want to be nomads sometimes, to move with ease from territory to territory, room to room, or idea to idea. We want a place of rest and permanence, just until we are on our toes again. We want to be held, but then, after that, we want to be set free.

© Duccio Malagamba

In profile, our Catifa chair looks a little like a carpet caught in the wind, beginning to curl and take flight. In fact, the comparison is literal — in Catalan, catifa means carpet.Like a rug, the Catifa chair can be both embracing and thin as a line. It is a synthesis of maximum generosity and minimum gesture. It allows comfort and freedom at the same time.

As Catifa celebrates its 10th birthday, it is now a large collection of many different variations and finishes but has never lost its identity, its concept. Like archetypes seen across time, each variation is not a shadow or lesser version of what came before, but rather, an affirmation of the strength of the concept.

© Michael Denancé