Seat of Conscience

“Behind all the luxury that we crave is a depleting ecosystem. The idea behind designing this chair was to juxtapose what we like to see through our rose tinted glasses and the real story that we push behind our chair or under the carpet,” says the 25-year-old artist. His chair has diminishing water pots made of stainless steel embedded into the backrest,a symbol of our dwindling water resources.

“I chose the pot or matka because it is typically Indian—while the chair has a flashy global style,” says Gupta,who was one of the youngest Indians to present a paper at the Generative Art Conference 2004 in Italy. Gupta sees himself as a “design chef” who serves up interesting recipes in his studio/kitchen,dishes that are both stylish and thought-provoking.