Friedman Benda is pleased to present, Chairs Don’t Cry, Lithuanian designer Barbora Žilinskaitė’s inaugural solo exhibition opening at the gallery’s Los Angeles location.

Stifled by the constraints of a traditional design education at the outset of her career, Žilinskaitė sought to distance herself from boundaried definitions in the field. Investigating relationships between owners and their objects, she questions human-centered worldviews and consumption habits. Seeking to create a bridge between people and things, she urges the user to relate to their objects as if they were entering into a dialogue between two equal parties. Imbuing design with representative figurative shapes as a mode of generating agency, Žilinskaitė experiments with brightly colored dyes and surrealistic organic corporeal forms crafted from her signature medium of reclaimed sawdust.

“Human-like features attract us, evoke emotions and feelings, they create this weird still friendly atmosphere,” she explains, “but also human-like objects become more significant – and that helps me to advocate for them.”