AYOR (At Your Own Risk) is one of Ron Arad’s most mischievous and challenging designs. When not in use, the chair tips forward to become an abstract sculpture, bridging the boundaries between contemporary art and design. Dipped backward, it offers its hidden seat. When the user stands up again the chair, balanced with a lead counterweight, quickly reassumes an upright position — the intent being to smack the sitter in the rear end.

This work, like many of Arad’s designs, was made in a limited edition (in this case, six), and it was fabricated in the One Off London workshop before production was relocated to Italy. Treating steel as if it were a piece of paper, Arad drew each shape directly onto the metal, as if he were making graffiti. Then, using electric shears, he cut out the individual shapes. Once the pieces were assembled with spot welding, the chair was bent into its final form and its surface was polished. The result is an artisanal object that carries the raw traces of its production.