Zaha Hadid

Wright, Chicago, December 9, 2008, lot 476

Acquired from the above by the present owner

Aaron Betsky, Zaha Hadid: Complete Works, New York, 2009, pp. 222 and 225

Pippo Ciorra, Margherita Guccione, Zaha Hadid in Italy, Recanati, 2017, p. 137

Philip Jodidio, Zaha Hadid Architects, Complete Works 1979-Today, Cologne, 2020, p. 597

Considered among many to be the world’s greatest female architect, Zaha Hadid created abstract buildings of grandeur. Winning the international Pritzker Prize for Architecture in 2004, she revolutionized the field of building, subverting traditional techniques and opting for unprecedented, distinctive compositions. Her buildings were markedly Hadid creations, employing painting in the design process, as well as Modernist and avant garde ideas. Shaping the prospect of contemporary architecture for the better, she paved the way for women architects across the globe.

The present work is the zenith of the interplay between abstract architecture and domesticity in Zaha Hadid's oeuvre. The piece was originally realized as part of a suite of furniture taking inspiration from glaciers. Commissioned by Italian furniture company Sawaya & Moroni, the “Moraine” sofa derives its shape from the result of glacial erosion on land, a moraine. The rippling, asymmetrical form highlights the dynamism of the topography, deposited upon and resurfaced by glaciers over and over again. The double-sided sofa takes Hadid’s unconventional style and reimagines it in the personal context of the home. Pushing the boundaries of design and abstraction, the architect combines intricate curvatures with minimalist design.