furniture

Among our favorite finds at the International Contemporary Furniture Fair, which wrapped up Tuesday at New York’s Javits Center, is the new Broom chair from Emeco and Philippe Starck. “It’s made of nothing,” says Starck. Well, almost. The latest addition to Hanover, Pennsylvania-based Emeco’s largely aluminum line-up consists of 75% reclaimed polypropylene, 15% reclaimed wood fiber, and 10% glass fiber—a new chair material composite derived from a compound of industrial waste from lumber factories and plastic plants. That’s where the sweeping up comes in. “Imagine a guy who takes a humble broom and starts to clean the workshop, and with this dust he makes new magic,” Starck says. “That’s why we call it ‘Broom.’” First shown last month at Salone Internazionale del Mobile di Milano, the chair is part of Emeco’s ongoing efforts toward zero-waste (remember that snappy variation on the 111 Navy Chair made from recycled plastic bottles?). “Philippe Starck and I have always agreed that it is not about recycling, but about restructuring production,” said Emeco CEO Gregg Buchbinder in a statement announcing the Broom chair. “Our aim is to prevent waste from being manufactured in the first place. Instead we use discarded materials to make things last.” Hear more from Starck in these three short films by Eames Demetrios, who as the grandson of Charles Eames knows a little something about chairs.

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At the Herman Miller pop-up shop, a family of Alexander Girard figures implore visitors to peruse Todd Oldham and Kiera Coffee’s mega-monograph on the designer. At right, an Eames lounge and ottoman with pedestal tables and an asterisk clock designed by George Nelson. (Photos: UnBeige)

The International Contemporary Furniture Fair doesn’t kick off until next Saturday, but Herman Miller is getting a jump on New York design week with a pop-up shop in Soho. The 6,000-square-foot showroom, open to the public through July 1, is arranged as a series of vignettes sprinkled with whimsical objects and designer-friendly books as well as art from Portland’s PDX gallery. It’s also the first place to see the Herman Miller Collection, a mix of classic pieces (Eames chairs, Noguchi tables, George Nelson‘s enduringly endearing Marshmallow sofa) and the work of contemporary designers such as Konstantin Grcic, Jasper Morrison, and Naoto Fukasawa. The portfolio of freestanding furniture for home and office is a revival of sorts. Ben Watson, executive creative director of Herman Miller, looked to heed Nelson’s 1948 call for “the continuing creation of a permanent collection designed to meet the requirements for modern living.” And so Ward Bennett credenzas mix with Stefano Giovannoni‘s swooping Paso Doble chairs, and BassamFellows’ elegant Tuxedo sofas cozy up to Nelson’s own mod tables. Watson has lined up future Collection pieces from the likes of Leon Ransmeier and Ayse Birsel and Bibi Seck.

Wooden bears by David Weeks prowl a table of books and accessories. At right, Grcic’s new Medici chair, produced by Mattiazzi, has a mod Adirondack vibe.

A rainbow of Eames molded plastic chairs around a Nelson X-Leg table.
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A sofa designed by Peter Shire. (Photo: Peter Shire)

“I keep thinking about sofas. They’re weird, right? You can get into a sociological conversation about the value of furniture and the way it has evolved over the last 500 years. Once, nobody had furniture unless they were wealthy. Castles had thrones, and the rank and file sat on benches. It was a social signifier. Now you see sofas thrown out on the street. In ceramics, we have kiln furniture to set your ware; in printing, they have furniture that holds the type into a matrix. That’s kind of what we’re talking about: objects that we piece together like a puzzle to hold our perceptions in the matrix. In a house, that can range from the way we move around to the things in it that cause social interaction. Many people would say of Memphis, which was so extreme, ‘I can’t imagine living with a house full of that!’ But you’re not meant to live with a whole house of it, unless you’re Karl Lagerfeld. So I’ve been thinking about what I’ve done, what it means within the world, and what its value is.”

-Artist and designer Peter Shire, an original member of the Milan-based Memphis group, in an interview with Jill Singer for Surface magazine

(Photos: Nico Neefs)

Bound for the Milan Furniture Fair yet short on time? Focus on the work of designers named Maarten! That will keep you plenty busy. Start at Ventura Lambrate, where Maarten Baas will have a bunch of new projects on display beginning tomorrow. Among them are spidery clay stools that Louise Bourgeois would have loved, a massive tablecloth woven—in a typeface called “Font of the Loom”—with the names of the inhabitants of Amsterdam (all 780,559 of them), and a still-under-wraps “kinetic object” for Laikingland. Also on view will be his Martin Puryear-esque “Empty Chair,” a 16-foot tall ladder-back seat created for Amnesty International in honor of Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo.

The other Eindhoven-educated must-see Maarten is Maarten De Ceulaer, who’ll be exhibiting at three locations during the Salone del Mobile. Head to Rossana Orlandi and the Triennale di Milano to be charmed by his “Mutations” series (pictured). “The pieces in this series look like they weren’t made by hands, but have grown to their present form organically,” says the Brussels-based designer. “They might be the result of a mutation in cells, or the result of a chemical or nuclear reaction. Perhaps it’s a virus or bacteria that has grown dramatically out of scale.” In fact, De Ceulaer created the molecularly marvelous seating, a kind of deep-buttoned upholstery run amok, by carefully composing patterns with sections of foam spheres that are then applied to a structure. The final step is coating the entire piece in a rubbery or velvet-like finish. “It is largely impossible to ever recreate such a specific pattern,” he says, “so every piece is completely unique.”

(Photos courtesy Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec)

It wouldn’t be the Milan International Furniture Fair without a slew of smashing new creations from Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec. At this year’s mega-show, which kicks off next week with an eye-watering 1,400 exhibitors, the designing brothers will debut their glossy storage nooks for Vitra, a textured textile/shelving system hybrid created for Established & Sons, and assorted objects for Magis and Mattiazzi. Those who can’t make it to Milano can get their Bouroullec fix in the pages of Works, out next month from Phaidon. “Works is a comprehensive monograph featuring a wealth of images of our projects, models, drawings—that is to say all visual material we found interesting to dig out from the archives of our workshop,” said the brothers in an e-mail. “It documents what we do by proposing an intuitive understanding, a flowing journey from one project to another.” Organized thematically and designed by Sonia Dyakova, the book spotlights the Bouroullecs’ greatest hits—including collaborations with Vitra (Algue makes the cover), Flos, Alessi, Cappellini, and Kvadrat—and reveals previously unpublished images and drawings alongside text by Abitare alum Anniina Koivu. Also weighing in on the designers’ first dozen years of projects, which are all doumented in a catalogue section, are the likes of design critic Alice Rawsthorn, Vitra CEO Rolf Fehlbaum, and Didier Krzentowski of Galerie Kreo.

Looks from the spring 2012 Jil Sander collection.

“When I was at industrial-design school, we were all expected to like the Memphis Group and Philippe Starck, but I’ve always been attracted to midcentury modernism. My favorite is the French designer Jean Royère. I love the marriage between different things in his work—the aspects of kitsch, premodernism, and modernism, along with an extreme femininity—but there’s also a robustness. Royère’s designs are very eclectic, but they all come from the world he has put together. His work has had a huge impact on me, but I’ve never bought any of it—it’s unaffordable. Recently, a Royère table came up at auction; the estimate was €12,000 to €15,000. I thought, That’s mine. Then I was on the phone with the auction house wondering if I should go up to €18,000. My God! I didn’t have time to say a thing. The thing went to €120,000!”

-Raf Simons, newly appointed artistic director of Christian Dior, in a recent interview with Alice Rawsthorn for W. Among the designer’s other favorite things, lest you want to send him a congratulatory gift: art by Sterling Ruby, Valentine Schlegel‘s ceramics, the architecture of John Lautner, the Todd Haynes film Safe, and vintage Margiela.

Copenhagen-born Jens Risom designed the first Knoll chair in 1941, which puts his age at roughly “two-hundred! Well, that’s almost right,” he said, seated in a high-backed rocking chair of his own design on a recent visit to the Stamford, Connecticut headquarters of Design Within Reach (in fact, he’ll turn 96 next month). This latest DWR Film features morsels of Risom’s chat, in which he discusses his storied career, interrupted early on by a stint in Patton’s Third Army; his creations; and that famous 1961 Playboy photo (above) in which he played musical chairs with George Nelson, Edward Wormley, Eero Saarinen, Harry Bertoia, and Charles Eames. Sure enough, he’s still the last one standing.

Ron Arad’s 1992 “Narrow Pappardelle” chair. (Photo: Bruno Scott)

“People in the art world are happy saying ‘I’m a designer’ and architects are happy saying ‘I’m an artist’ but I’m not allowed to be all of the above. If I do a sculpture it’s written about as ‘designed by Ron Arad‘ but if my friend Antony Gormley does one, no one ever says he ‘designed’ it. I thought it would get easier to escape these kinds of distinctions, but no. Frank Gehry told me he didn’t get taken seriously as an architect until he stopped designing furniture. I understand it: if you are doing these huge buildings it is difficult to accept that someone who isn’t an exclusive member of your club can do it too. Personally, I have no problem designing stuff for Vitra or Moroso that is made to be sold in shops, but I also like to do big projects or products that cause people in the bolshevik art world to be uncomfortable. But that’s a problem of their perception. I don’t want to stop doing anything. I want to do it all as seriously as I can, whether it’s industrial or a useless installation.”

-Ron Arad, in conversation with Reed Krakoff in this weekend’s Financial Times

All is well at Knoll. The mod furnishings company powered through 2011, picking up a Cooper-Hewitt National Design Award along the way to a 14% year-over-year increase in net sales, to $922.2 million. With an eye to further expanding its high-margin, high-design “Specialty” business, Knoll recently announced a pair of acquisitions. The company has purchased Boston-based FilzFelt, the go-to source for German-milled wool design and craft felt. Founders Kelly Smith and Traci Roloff will continue in their executive roles at FilzFelt. Also joining the Knoll family is Richard Schultz Design. “Richard Schultz began his career as a designer with Knoll and co-founded his company with his son Peter in 1992,” noted Knoll CEO Andrew Cogan in a statement announcing the deal. “Together, they have built an international reputation for exploring new materials and forms for outdoor furniture.” Financial terms of the deals were not disclosed. In other Knoll news, the Cooper-Hewitt has added five KnollTextiles upholstery fabrics and two wallcoverings to its permanent collection. They include designs by Abbott Miller, Proenza Schouler, and Dorothy Cosonas, creative director of KnollTextiles. All of this Knoll talk making you crave Bertoia chairs and Risom stools? Good news: the Knoll Classics Sale is now on. Peruse discounted goods through Saturday at the NYC Knoll showroom (76 Ninth Avenue) or click over to Design Within Reach, where the sale runs through Sunday.

“When I was younger my goal was to work closely with the industry and make products that reached as many people as possible. But after fifteen years’ experience my attitude has changed. My products are made in small runs if you compare them to Ikea’s mass production. You could even say that what I do is quite elitist. I usually justify this by saying that my furniture is avant-garde. The basic idea of an avant-garde is that their ideas eventually affect the masses. Just look at Memphis, a small group of people who showed prototypes in a gallery context. Now you can see traces of their ideas when you go shopping at Wal-Mart. They have become democratic.”

-Industrial designer Konstantin Grcic, who (among other projects) is designing the German Pavilion at the 13th Architecture Biennale in Venice