Ron Arad’s Rolling Volume series, initiated in 1989, exemplifies the designer’s daring approach to form, materiality, and function. Emerging from the late 1980s and early 1990s – a period defined by Arad’s experimental, sculptural perspective – Rolling Volume is an early example from the coveted series and embodies his fascination with industrial processes and brutalist aesthetics, while also reflecting his innovative approach to furniture design.

Crafted primarily from welded and polished steel, Rolling Volume chairs showcase the raw beauty of industrial materials. This material choice pays homage to brutalism, a design movement characterised by its bold, rugged aesthetic and celebration of exposed materials. However, Arad’s interpretation transcends the harshness often associated with brutalism. The curving, continuous form of the Rolling Volume armchair is both dynamic and elegant, its contours polished to a reflective sheen that softens its industrial origins. This interplay between weighty, utilitarian materials and a sleek, almost aerodynamic form is emblematic of Arad’s creative tension between sculpture and function.

One of the most distinctive aspects of Rolling Volume is its internal weighting and deliberate upward tilt. This positioning, which angles the seat to seemingly defy gravity, evokes the energy of an object poised for motion. The title itself draws attention to this kinetic quality, highlighting the chair’s spatial dynamics and its almost sculptural play with balance. For the sitter, Rolling Volume presents both a visual and physical challenge. The chair’s shape and balance intentionally distance it from traditional notions of comfort and functionality, instead inviting engagement with its artistry and form.

Each piece in the limited Rolling Volume series is a testament to Arad’s experimental ethos during a pivotal period in his career. Beyond its function as seating, the chair stands as a conceptual object – a dialogue between material, space, and movement. It reflects Arad’s early mastery of working with steel, a material that would come to define much of his oeuvre, and his ongoing exploration of how furniture can exist at the boundary of art and design.

Today, Ron Arad’s works are celebrated for their radical redefinition of furniture design, and Rolling Volume remains a key example of his early, genre-defying experimentation. Through its combination of brutalist materiality and sculptural elegance, it captures the spirit of an era in which design was liberated from convention, and objects could challenge their own purpose to become works of art in their own right.