When an object changes function, it often loses its original meaning. AIR Chair by designer Francesco Feliziani does exactly the opposite: it transforms a basketball hoop into a seat while preserving the memory of the sporting gesture, where reuse becomes a design language and the structure tells a new story.

Presented during the UnBroken exhibition at last year’s London Design Festival, AIR Chair is a sculptural seat made from a disassembled and reinterpreted basketball hoop. This is not a simple upcycling operation, but a true narrative transformation: iron, netting, and sports geometry are decontextualized to become a domestic object, while still preserving their original identity.

The seat is born from the hoop’s ring, still stretched with woven cords that recall the movement of the net, while the metal structure is transformed into an essential, almost industrial frame. The result is a chair that seems suspended, light, as its very name suggests: AIR. An object that retains the visual tension of athletic action, while translating it into a static and contemplative gesture.

Guided by an approach focused on material transformation, Feliziani reused almost every component of the original object, introducing only rope and a few 3D-printed elements. The project was conceived as a one-off piece, built specifically for the exhibition, and moves between memory and function, between found object and contemporary design.

The contrast between the matte black structure, the hoop’s iconic orange, and the white rope creates an immediately recognizable palette, capable of evoking urban playgrounds and sports culture. At the same time, the transparency of the backrest introduces a lighter, almost technical dimension that reinforces the idea of suspension.

AIR Chair thus becomes an exercise in design functionality: a hoop that stops being a tool for play and becomes a space for pause, without losing its original energy. An object that tells a story of movement even when standing still.