Monobloc

The Monobloc is the best-selling piece of furniture of all time. It is estimated that there are one billion copies of this cheap, often white plastic chair around the world, in every country and every corner. How did it come to this? Award-winning filmmaker Hauke Wendler spent eight years working on a documentary that explores this question. This photo book, which combines film sequences and archival material from Monobloc enthusiasts around the globe, tells the story of how this unassuming chair, often ridiculed by many, conquered the world. How it has destroyed livelihoods and created wealth. How it threatens our environment and good taste. But also, how the Monobloc is indispensable for millions of people, for whom a chair is just a chair and nothing more. Monobloc is a globalization-critical object history that navigates between functionality and beauty, capitalism and participation, consumption and recycling.

Hauke Wendler (1967) is a film director, author, and producer. After studying political science and history, he began working as a freelance journalist and reporter for various television stations before focusing on his career as a filmmaker.