The Concept

Swiss design icon USM is teaming up with social entrepreneur THE SKATEROOM to create change, at this year’s Milan Design Week. They invited renowned Swiss artist Claudia Comte to design a limited collection of USM modular furniture and skateboard art editions featuring her intriguing artwork. The bespoke collection will fund a substantial amount for a social project in Jordan, bringing skateboarding and education to underprivileged boys and girls through the non-profit organization Seven Hills.

The Art

Claudia Comte’s characteristic black and white patterns are inspired by the rhythm of single structures creating dazzling surfaces that flow from their movement. The lines of the zigzag evoke a backward and forward motion that represents a gliding through past, present and future times. Derived from nature such as waves or radiation, the pattern provokes a sense of empathy and closeness, creating an immediate emotional connection between the object and the viewer.

The Collection

Merging Claudia Comte’s dynamic morphology of nature with the timeless aesthetics of USM and the skateboards, the bespoke collection celebrates the power of the language of shapes to communicate something that goes beyond the written word.

The limited collection will be available to order online and consists of:

• 3 x 50 distinguished USM Haller pieces – a highboard, a sideboard and a sidetable
• 3 x 50 pieces of different skateboard art editions triptychs

Furthermore, one unique edition piece by the artist Claudia Comte, combining THE SKATEROOM’s skateboard art editions with a larger USM Haller shelving solution, will be on display in Milano.

The Social Project

The collaboration will fund a social project by Seven Hills empowering at-risk youth in Jordan. The non-profit organization develops safe and inclusive skateparks and public spaces, runs free-of-charge skateboarding sessions, informal education, and arts programming for all youth from Jordan’s diverse demographics. Skateboarding has impacted the lives of countless people – boys and girls of all ages, from every walk of life. It is, at its most fundamental, an exercise in resilience.
 

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About Claudia Comte

Claudia Comte (b. 1983) is a Swiss artist based in Basel, Switzerland. Her practice is guided by a longstanding interest in teasing out the history and memory of biomorphic forms through traditional hand processes, industrial and machine technologies. Comte’s site-specific installations bring together monumental wall paintings and sculptures playfully inspired by organic patterns and morphology, paying testament to the intelligence and transformative capacities of the ecological world.

About THE SKATEROOM

Since 2014, THE SKATEROOM has worked closely with the world’s most influential artists to empower international skate and education nonprofits & projects, committing 10% minimum of revenue to social partners. As a proud B Corp, THE SKATEROOM embraces a social entrepreneurship model, while actively working to improve sustainability and transparency in its work. Since 2014, the company has generated over $1,500,000 in social sponsorship. THE SKATEROOM values art, skate and social change.

About USM

Swiss based USM has been providing timeless and high quality modular furniture designs suitable for both home and office environments for more than 50 years. Recognized as a design classic, USM was formally accepted into the permanent Design Collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York, confirming the artistic character of the product. Created from a few basic elements, the company’s furniture offers tailor-made solutions that can be expanded or reconfigured as needed. Each furniture piece allows room for maximum versatility and creativity. To encourage long-term use, all of the USM product lines are made from high-quality materials for strength and durability to last for years.