Uncomfortable. Its a word Ive heard a lot while reporting on the ongoing Greek economic crisis during the past few years. People who once had good jobs， houses， a level of comfort， suddenly find its all vanished. Athens-based architect Katerina Kampranis no exception.

Kamprani： Well， the problem is getting worse， and here in Athens and in Greece in general， architecture is not going very well. I also try to do other stuff.

And what Kampranis done is tap into her own discomfort. A few years ago she started thinking of everyday objects and how they might be reimagined.

Kamprani： The first sketch that I did， it was a toilet. That was， the floor of the toilet was elevated two metres， approximately， from the floor， so you have to use a ladder to go to the toilet. And I then thought “thats uncomfortable.”

Indeed！ And then，…

Kamprani： Another idea popped into my mind， which was a closet that， its doors would open inward. Yeah， even if you put something in it， you cannot take it out very easily.

Kamprani transferred her sketches to her computer and started doing 3-D mockups of the objects. Theres an umbrella made of cement， a beautiful bowl with a hole in the bottom， and yellow rain boots without the toes.

Kamprani： I tried for the objects to be a bit usable. I dont want them to be completely useless. We could use them but you have to try a lot.

She calls the set of designs “The Uncomfortable.”

There are many variations on that classic， the fork. Kampranis got versions with hinged tines. Theres another with tines three inches thick. Theyre forks， but theyre not.

Kamprani： We all know what a fork does and what a spoon does， and， you know， all these everyday objects around us. So you have an expectation of that object to do something， and what I design doesnt. Its very close to that， but its a bit different.

For my part， I started out by laughing at Kampranis designs， and then， after a couple of minutes， I got a bit annoyed.

Kamprani： Many people get angry. I dont know why. They say “Im so angry seeing this.”

Kamprani thinks its because people start thinking about what it would be like to try to use her uncomfortable objects.

Take Kampranis design for a pretty blue watering can. Shes turned the spout backwards， so that if you tried to pour the water out， it would， instead， pour right back into the can.

Kamprani： Its not even in the guidelines that I have for myself for uncomfortable. I think its completely useless： doesnt do anything. But its very symbolic.F30796AB-21C8-4245-AE88-D3B07C2A2F3D

Symbolic， she says， of life in Greece these days. Its moved beyond the uncomfortable， says Kamprani， and straight into the surreal. And what would be even more surreal， she says， is if one day the Greek economy actually improved， and she had enough money to build real versions of her computer-designed creations. Id be the first in line for those toeless yellow rain boots. Theyd actually go quite well with that watering can that doesnt actually water. Kind of an official “sideways glance”uniform.

“不自在”，這是在過去的幾年里，我對希臘持續(xù)的經(jīng)濟(jì)危機(jī)進(jìn)行報(bào)道時常常會聽到的一個詞。人們曾一度有份好工作，有自己的房子，生活安逸，突然間，一切都消失了。雅典的建筑師凱特琳娜·坎普拉尼也不例外。

坎普拉尼：呃，問題越來越嚴(yán)重，在雅典，以至于在整個希臘，總的來說建筑業(yè)也不景氣，所以我嘗試做點(diǎn)別的。

坎普拉尼所做的就是利用自己的不爽情緒。在幾年前，她開始對日常生活用品進(jìn)行思考，想想它們可以如何以不同的樣子出現(xiàn)。

坎普拉尼：我畫的第一幅草圖是一個馬桶。那個馬桶的底部離地面大概有兩米高，這樣的話，你要上廁所還得用梯子。當(dāng)時我就想，“那可真不爽?！?/p>

確實(shí)是不爽！接下來……

坎普拉尼：我想到的另一個主意，那就是柜子，一個門朝里開的柜子。對，即便你把東西放到柜子里面，但想拿出來并不容易。

坎普拉尼把自己的設(shè)計(jì)草圖放到電腦里，并且開始做一些三維模型。那是用水泥做的傘，那是底部有一個洞的很漂亮的碗，還有露出腳趾頭的雨靴。

坎普拉尼：我盡量讓這些物品能夠派得上一點(diǎn)用場，我不會讓它們完全不可用。我們可以使用這些物品，但我們得費(fèi)不少勁。

她把這個系列的設(shè)計(jì)命名為“讓人不爽的物品”。

叉是一個經(jīng)典的設(shè)計(jì)，有多個版本?？财绽嵩O(shè)計(jì)的其中一款叉的叉齒是用鉸鏈與叉的上部連接在一起的，另一款的叉齒則有三英寸厚。這些都是叉，但又不是叉。

坎普拉尼：我們都知道叉和勺的用途，你也知道，我們身邊的這些物品，我們也知道它們的功用，所以你會對一個物品的功用有一定的預(yù)期，但我設(shè)計(jì)的用品卻不能滿足這些預(yù)期。它很接近，但又有點(diǎn)不一樣。

而我呢，我一開始對坎普拉尼的設(shè)計(jì)一笑置之，但過了一會兒，我有點(diǎn)兒惱火。

坎普拉尼：許多人都會生氣，我也不知道為什么。他們說：“看到這些我很生氣。”

坎普拉尼認(rèn)為，那是因?yàn)槿藗儠氲饺绻嬲褂盟@些讓人不爽的物品會怎么樣。

以坎普拉尼設(shè)計(jì)的這個漂亮的藍(lán)色灑水壺為例吧。她把噴水口設(shè)計(jì)成朝里了。這樣一來，如果你想往外倒水，水反而會倒回壺里。

坎普拉尼：這個設(shè)計(jì)甚至不符合我為自己訂立的不爽設(shè)計(jì)的規(guī)矩。我覺得這個東西完全是沒有用的，什么都做不了。但它很有象征性。

她說，它是當(dāng)今希臘生活的象征。今天的生活已經(jīng)遠(yuǎn)不止是不爽那么簡單了，而是直接就進(jìn)入了一個離奇的狀態(tài)。而她說，更加讓人難以置信的是如果有一天，希臘的經(jīng)濟(jì)有所好轉(zhuǎn)，她有足夠的錢可以把這些電腦設(shè)計(jì)變成實(shí)物。那我會第一個想要一對那種露趾的黃色雨靴，它們其實(shí)與那個不能倒水的灑水壺蠻搭的。兩樣放一起，應(yīng)該會讓人側(cè)目吧。F30796AB-21C8-4245-AE88-D3B07C2A2F3D