Man Ray’s Le Témoin Re-edition by Paradisoterrestre.

Bologna-based design gallery Paradisoterrestre presents the re-edition of one of the iconic pieces from the design history: Le Témoin, designed by Man Ray for Dino Gavina in 1971.

Part of the historic and radical operation Ultramobile, conceived by Gavina in 1971 to adapt surrealist object into everyday lif, Le Témoin by Man Ray is an eye that watches on insistently with an indiscreet presence. Once, it’s turned it transforms into an unexpected seat.

The great artist Man Ray and the Bolognese entrepreneur Dino Gavina were linked by an extraordinary friendship and collaboration: the idea for Le Témoin was born from a gift exchanged between the two – an oval-shaped cookie box Gavina gave to Man Ray and on which the artist painted a big eye before giving it back to his friend.

“The large eye, the witness, insistently observes you in your home, when your conscience cannot withstand it, then you turn it over and it immediately turns into a sofa” – Man Ray.

A witness to our habits within the domestic landscape, the eye by Man Ray is a “furniture of poetry”: at the same time a practical response to functional needs and a “totem evoking wonder, a presence that pulsates and breathes in your home, a vital and sardonic aggression, poetry frozen in a flash of joy” (text taken from the first leaflet by “Ultramobile”, 1971).

Related: Atelier Aveus Mixes Fiction with Reality in Hitchcock-Inspired Interiors Series.

[Images courtesy of Paradisoterrestre. Photography by Giovanni Gori, Lorenzo Pennati & Mattia Tonelli.]