Federica Sala’s 'Happy Hammock' cradles the inner child

In childhood, love, wonder, curiosity, and bliss abound unapologetically. Things that we grew up with immense admiration for, activities that rendered us ecstatic and the seemingly-indelible memories that we ‘outgrow’ imperceptibly fade into oblivion. One such thing for Italian architect and designer, Federica Sala was hammocks. Hitting the nostalgia button, she recollects deeply embedded vivid memories of days spent at the beach house; the garden vivified by an array of hammocks. ''There are things that I loved a lot as a child that I rediscovered when I had a son," says Federica. ''Swings and hammocks are among those because what is more beautiful than the feeling of flying? For a child (and for me) there is nothing more magical,” she adds. The Barcelona-based designer carried and preserved this souvenir of the past through her youth, a designated companion for all her endeavours and expeditions.

Geometria Da Compagnia, a product design studio helmed by Federica, presents the Happy Hammock, an ode to memories and emotions that soften the frown lines and efface the near-perpetual worries. Moreover, how can one not smile looking at something that is a giant smile itself? The intriguing design is conceptualised as a part of Federica Sala's new collection of big interactive sculptures 'Playground', which also encapsulates Bruno swing, a form exuding care and affection. Synthesising an eternal fondness and her sculptural language, the Happy Hammock is conceived as the edifice of peace and joy and the Bruno swing, the symbol of maternal care and love.

Harnessing the time and space that the pandemic brought with itself, the designer felt that she could redesign these beloved objects ornamenting them with her personal vision, artistic essence and experience. After having worked in the realm of kinetic art for quite some time, Federica's current quest involves reinterpreting and translating mundane objects in a sensitive and anthropomorphic way. Her sculptures, without compromising their authentic functionality, are a window to human emotions. The designer's unique approach is what transfigures a simple red hammock into a giant smile to rest in, or a swing into a beating heart to play with. The consequence is a body of empathic objects that embrace the dormant inner child and welcomes the user to enjoy, unwind and reflect at the same time.

For the past two years, Federica Sala has probed a variety of techniques and materials for making kinetic sculptures and developed an oeuvre focused on mobiles. Her work is an enticing display of the dialogue between dynamics and equilibrium, guided by the environment's energetic fields - such as thermal and aeolian forces. Energy, an incessant source of all life that surrounds us, directs her hand to materialise and breathe life into her sculptures. Balance, movement, human silhouette and interaction are the ingredients that interweave allowing the work of Federica Sala to represent universal concepts in which any onlooker can recognize themselves.