” In 2017 Eugenio Perazza requested we design a light weight magnesium chair which expresses the unique qualities of magnesium.

With this brief in mind we set out to design a chair that would be right for magnesium in both shape, structure and function.

After a comprehensive exploration of the magnesium’s properties and manufacturing possibilities, we decided that we wanted to deal with stacking as a main idea, because due to the magnesium’s lightweight we thought that the best expression of it lightness in the context of a chair is to design a chair that is intended to be picked up.”  ……..  Kuchik & Amitai

Our aim was to design a long-lasting, sustainable, and elegant magnesium chair that would be the “go to” chair for cafes and restaurants, public spaces and residential spaces that needed the versatile functions offered by a light weight stacking chair.

The goal of the design was to design a chair that would be comfortable, light-weight, compact and most importantly have the ability to infinitely and tightly stack upwards.

Because we wanted the chair to fit for both residential and public environments, we designed the stack ability to be discreet as possible.

In addition, because we wanted the chair to be visually fit for indoor as well as outdoor, we wanted to find alternatives to element that are specifically identified with outdoor chairs such as draining holes.

For this reason, we designed the seat so that water cascades to the openings in the backrest and eliminate the need of the draining holes in the seat.

“ After Air-Chair in 2000, designed by Jasper Morrison, after Chair_One in 2003, designed by Konstantin Gric, after Steelwood Chair in 2008, designed by Ronan & Erwan Bouroullec, marking fundamental stages in the history of Magis, 2019 sees the introduction of a new chair, Vela, which has got what it takes to become another milestone in Magis design.

Designed by the young couple, work and life partners, Gilli Kuchik and Ran Amitai, it has a simple and understated shape and the clean lines of three sails in the wind. Its manufacture however is extraordinary, with shell in die-cast magnesium and the four legs in extruded magnesium. I believe it to be the first chair in magnesium in the world designed, developed and produced in decidedly industrial terms.

Weighing two and a half kilos, it can be moved or stacked on another chair with just one finger.

Vela is to be one of the stand-out new products by Magis at the Salone del Mobile 2019.” ……. Eugenio Perazza, Founder and Art Director of Magis

It is a real feat not only formally, but also owing to the material used, namely magnesium – which while used in the auto industry has certainly not made inroads into furniture design.

The Vela chair explores all the potential of magnesium to create an extremely functional piece.

Gilli Kuchik and Ran Amitai with their ” Vela chair” on the Magis Design stand at Salone Milan 2019

The material makes “Vela” light and sturdy in equal measure.

With its simple yet characterful style, this versatile chair is suitable for any décor, whether indoors our outside.

Thanks to the joy of experimentation of the designer duo, the chair is lightweight and can be positioned flexibly for any occasion.

Available in seven colours, there is plenty of room for individual accents.

About Gilli Kuchik & Ran Amitai

Studio Gilli Kuchik & Ran Amitai (formerly known as Bakery Studio) was founded in 2009 by designers Ran Amitai and Gilli Kuchik.

The designers met and became a couple in life and in design during their studies at the department of Industrial Design at the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design in Jerusalem Israel.

The designers believe in a design process based on hands-on research and experimentation with materials and technologies and finding new ways of interpreting traditional and emerging production methods and object morphologies.

The studio works in various fields of design and moves freely between the worlds of self produced limited editions to mass produced design objects, whilst each of these worlds brings inspiration and context to the other.

Since its establishment the studio has worked with leading companies in Israel and abroad, won numerous design awards and has exhibited and been featured in exhibitions and design publication around the world.

The works of the studio are part of Design Museum Holon permanent collection.

The studio is located in Tel Aviv, Israel.

About Magis

Established in 1976 in the north east of Italy by Eugenio Perazza, Magis is now a prominent lodestar in the design world, whose success is based on the desire to provide a broad swathe of users with access to high functional and technological quality products, developed in partnership with major international designers, with a vision of the resulting products that is ethical and poetic as well as aesthetic.

Konstantin Grcic, Ronan & Erwan Bouroullec, Jasper Morrison, Marc Newson, Ron Arad, Naoto Fukasawa, Marcel Wanders, Stefano Giovannoni, Philippe Starck, Zaha Hadid and Thomas Heatherwick are just some of the designers that have worked with Magis, creating a vast collection of pieces, each with its own story to tell and its own character to express, be it in domestic settings or collective spaces.

Magis products are dedicated to their international public (exports account for some 85% of production), and are all 100% “Made in Italy”: a guarantee of high quality, in line with the firm’s tradition, which has developed from its craftsmanship and cultural roots, through the evolving styles and industrial growth of the eighties and nineties, and continues to comprise one of the company’s greatest and most valuable assets.