What makes a ladder a ladder? For designer Ara Thorose, that’s a question worth climbing into. “I ask, what becomes a ladder? What attributes combine to achieve ‘ladderness’? How can that be reached in a single line?,” the designer reflects. It’s a conceptual puzzle he believes can be solved in countless ways. In his latest Ladders series created for There Will Be Clouds, an exhibition with French artist Guillaume Linard-Osorio at Contemporary Cluster art gallery in Rome and courtesy of Carvalho, Thorose investigates the essence of “ladderness,” distilling the familiar object into minimalist, fluid forms that blur the line between sculpture and function. His experimental approach reminds us that playful exploration and deep introspection can lead to unexpected, yet deeply resonant, design.
Stepladder
There Will Be Clouds was inspired by Swiss painter, Johann Heinrich Füssli, whose work portrayed dramatic emotional contrasts from ecstasy to anguish, awe to despair. Thorose echoes this duality of spiritual elation and despondence with his ladders, suggesting elevation and descent not just as physical movement, but as emotional journey.
Stepladder
Rather than starting with software, Thorose begins each piece with a pipe cleaner, bending it by hand into a three-dimensional sketch. From there, he creates 2D drawings to refine the form before fabricating each piece in steel and rubber. This hands-on process preserves a sense of gesture and spontaneity in the final work. What begins as a twist of wire becomes a sculptural object that still carries the imprint of the hand.
Stepladder
Stepladder
The resulting series includes a Stepladder, Standing Ladder, and a leaning ladder-inspired Chaise, each a meditation on form, function, and figural movement. With soft, continuous lines rendered in industrial materials, the ladders suggest knees, posture, or an outstretched arm – gestures that nod to Füssli’s expressive figures. Each piece is also engineered with a mid-step at seat height, inviting people to sit, perch, or pause. “Sitting on steps is intuitive,” Thorose notes. “Through that simple act, we create personal space – and somehow, the setting becomes informal and warm.”
Standing Ladder
Standing Ladder
Thorose’s series is part object, part prompt – an invitation to reimagine what a ladder can be beyond its function. When we approach the most familiar forms with curiosity and care, we open the door to unexpected beauty, new meanings, and endless possibilities.
Standing Ladder
Chaise
Chaise
To learn more about Ladders or Ara Thorose’s work, visit arathorose.com and follow on Instagram at @arathorose.
Photography by Joe Tiano.
