Four Old Chairs
Launched for the first time in 2023 on International Forest Day, "Old and New Wood - Upcycled Furniture Fair" reopens its doors for its second edition on April 26, 2024. For 4 days, creatives from all spheres gather in Slănic-Moldova, Bacău county, to celebrate a unique initiative in Romania to save forests by recycling old wood and transforming it into contemporary design elements, as a manifesto against consumerism and an example of involvement and innovation in the ecological transition. As with the first edition, the main venue for the fair is Centrala Artelor In Context, itself an upcycling project and a landmark on Romania's creative hub map: a former thermoelectric power plant, which now has a pink tower and a facade designed by Dan Perjovschi. Satellite events and artistic interventions will take place in the resort amid nature. Locations will be announced in the period leading up to the opening. This year, the project team's activity focused on restoring chairs, as a tribute to the most complex piece of furniture, but also the one with the greatest potential for creative and educational impact. Upcycled chairs from Centrala can become, through collaborations with the HORECA segment, ambassadors of the transition to a sustainable lifestyle. The chairs that will be presented in this edition of the Old and New Wood fair were recovered directly from the communities of the region and were transformed within strategic partnerships that the In Context Slănic Moldova Art Association concluded with two educational institutions in Bacău county: the G. Apostu Bacău National College of Art and the Târgu Ocna Educational Center. These will be judged and auctioned on April 27. The income obtained from sales will be directed towards equipping the project's collaborating workshops, in order to increase the impact and the quantity of bulky waste diverted from landfill. In the year since its launch, the project has furnished private residences and cafes with upcycled furniture such as Replace at 23 Armenească Street, Bucharest, participated in creative events that promote sustainability such as Comunidar at Mezanin Market, Romanian Design Week and Trifoi Fest, being among the finalists at the Green Gala Awards 2023 organized by the Romania Green Building Council. Starting in 2024, the In Context Slănic Moldova Art Association has become the Zero Waste Romania representative in Bacău county. Mountains, forests, mineral springs, furniture painting workshops and zero waste – it only happens in Slănic, the Pearl of Moldova! For more details: contact@incontext.art; Tel. +40 723 352 010
