Make Yourself Comfortable is a temporary communal living room, filled with unbuilt furniture chosen by community members, waiting to be assembled.

Some people watch, some walk by, and others roll up their sleeves to join in. The need for each piece of furniture varies. Tea and Kit Kats are on hand if you need a break.

Flat-pack furniture is known to test even the strongest relationships, but the thing that is produced turns into a shared object – a marker of time spent, patience practiced, care and collaboration – often with an Allen key.

Guided by questions alongside the DIY instructions, conversations grow as work progresses. How do you find comfort with strangers while building something to bring comfort to someone else?

When the furniture is finished, it’s delivered to its new home.

Artistic Collaborator + Graphic Designer – Lisa Mattocks

Developed with ARC Stockton-on-Tees, and supported by the Quarantine Collaborators Fund.