Best known for its widely coveted modular shelving system designed by Dieter Rams, Vitsœ recently scored the exclusive worldwide license to Rams’ original furniture designs. First up on the relaunching pad for the London-based company is the designer’s 620 chair, which hits the market this month following a top-to-bottom reengineering. Every last purpose-designed stainless steel bolt in the chair, designed for Vitsœ in 1962 and later the subject of a legal scuffle that led to the design being copyrighted, has been given the once over, and the versatile seat–add castors for swivelling, connect a few together for a multi-seat sofa–emerged from the makeover with a reduced price ($3,340, sans casters) and a footstool.

The Trusteeship Council Chamber at the United Nations, originally designed by Danish architect Finn Juhl in 1952, reopened last month after a three-year renovation.

“We all moan about the United Nations, but there was no supranational body, no international forum [in 1914],” says Harold Evans in this week’s New York Times Book Review Podcast, discussing the DIY state of diplomacy at the dawn of the First World War. “You were reliant on these errant telegrams, these errant messages, these ambassadors in their frock coats carrying these ambiguous messages. Oh, crikey! What a thing worth studying.” The frock coat-free body has just had an update of its own, with the reopening of the Trusteeship Council Chamber at the UN headquarters in New York. Originally designed by Finn Juhl in 1952, the chamber has undergone a multi-million-dollar renovation–a collaborative effort by the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Danish Ministry of Culture, Realdania, and the UN.

The floor and wall panels have been restored, but this was basically a gut reno: new ventilation, piping, wiring, and carpeting as well as a fresh floor that recreates the original, including the sunken section in the middle of the horseshoe configuration. And then there’s the furniture: a modified version of Juhl’s FJ51 chair is joined by new furniture designed by Kasper Salto and Thomas Sigsgaard. The Copenhagen-based designer-architect duo won a 2011 design competition for new tables for the delegates and a new table and chairs for the secretariat. “Our motto has been letting the furniture add to the existing room by having them consist of as few elements and parts as possible,” say Salto and Sigsgaard, who were on hand last month for the opening ceremony. “Respecting the room and the consequent use of wood in the room.” Their Council chair (pictured) is an elegant two-part shell of molded Reholz 3D veneer in oak, upholstered in light-colored leather. Juhl’s Chieftain chair was a primary inspiration.
Read more

At left, the booth of Jousse Entreprise at the inaugural Collective Design Fair, which runs through today at Pier 57 in New York. (Photos: UnBeige)

NYCxDESIGN is upon us, and among our favorite happenings so far is Collective, a new design fair that has brought 22 galleries from around the world to New York’s Pier 57. Spearheading the impressive initiative is Steven Learner, working with a supportive bunch of designers, curators, collectors, and dealers (hence “Collective”). “As an architect and collector, I have visited the greatest design fairs in the world and realized that it was essential to create an event of this caliber in New York,” says Learner, whose architecture and interior design firm managed to make the gritty, 70,000-square-foot hangar feel breezy and inviting. Here are a dozen of our favorite works from the fair.

J. Lohmann Gallery brought a stunning assortment of new works from five European artists. Here, a ceramic and PVC “Tied Up” piece by Steen Ipsen.

The gorilla in the room, shown by Southern Guild of South Africa, is Bronze Age’s “Welcome to My World” (2012), a bronze and timber primate that stands nearly seven feet tall. “Shadow of Time,” a 1989 floor clock by Ron Arad, is at the booth of Stockholm-based Modernity gallery.

Win the rat race with Atelier Ted Noten‘s lucite tote, at Ornamentum.
Read more

Blik isn’t sticking to walls. This week the self-adhesive wall graphics company launches Surface Skins, a new line of durable decals that promise to “bring some graphic goodness to humdrum furnishings everywhere.” Designed to cover desks, tables, cabinets, bookshelves, and other smooth surfaces in need of a boost, the removable stickers (which start at $42) debut in a dozen bold designs that are based on the artfully crafted gift wrap of Wrapped, Blik’s design-minded neighbor in Venice, California. Pattern options include a rainbow of Hirstian spots, AbEx-style flourishes, pseudocowhide, or good ol’ plywood. “We had the idea a few years ago and finally found a new material that made Surface Skins a possibility,” said Blik co-founder Scott Flora in a statement issued Monday. “Wrapped’s designs are so graphic, that you can take an ordinary object and make it really dynamic.”
Read more

(Photo: Maharam)

After four generations of family ownership, Maharam is changing hands. The beloved New York City-based textiles firm, founded in 1902 by Louis Maharam, is being acquired by Herman Miller for $156 million, the company announced this week. “Much as we’ve struggled with this decision, our philosophical kinship with Herman Miller helped make this difficult step a far easier one,” said CEO Michael Maharam, who along with his brother, Stephen (who serves as COO), will remain active in the day-to-day management of the company for the next couple of years. “Herman Miller’s potential to provide the wherewithal to pursue important new initiatives, as well as an established reach into both retail and international markets and the greatest possible strength of association, offers a powerful lever in achieving our design-centered strategic vision.” Maharam is perhaps best known for its re-editions of iconic 20th century designs, including the work of Anni Albers, Charles and Ray Eames, and Alexander Girard. In recent years the company has developed textiles with collaborators such as Hella Jongerius, Paul Smith, Marian Bantjes, and Sarah Morris.

Hurry up, please, it’s time. TEFAF favorite Kunstkammer Georg Laue’s offerings included, at right, a Renaissance vanitas cabinet. Lest would-be buyers tarry, the front door of the cabinet opens to reveal a scene with a naked child leaning on a skull with an hourglass at his feet.

Shoppers ranging from the Metropolitan Museum of Art to Kanye West have popped into the European Fine Art Fair (TEFAF), which runs through Sunday in the Dutch town of Maastricht. No word on Kanye’s haul, but the Met scored “Virgil’s Tomb in Moonlight” (1779) by Joseph Wright of Derby (a poster version is yours for $19.99), Ronald Lauder picked up Picasso‘s “Homme au Chapeau” (1964) for $8 million, and the soon-to-reopen Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam has enriched its collection with works including an 1809 Nicolaas Bauer canvas and Antoine Vechte‘s silver “Galathea” vase, created in 1843 for a French nobleman. Meanwhile, 26-year-old TEFAF is looking eastward: the fair’s organizers announced this week that they’re in talks with Sotheby’s to develop an art fair in China, so stay tuned for updates on “TEFAF Beijing 2014.” We’ve still got plenty to show from you from this year’s artstravaganza in Maastricht–check out 25 more must-sees:

Gagosian gallery positioned this 1946 Picasso nearby Rudolf Stingel‘s 2012 photo-realist painting of the artist as young man. At right, L’Arc de Seine’s jaw-dropping stand featured a circa 1930 shagreen-covered desk and chair by Jean-Michel Frank.

The secret to eternal youth? Multiple suitors and frequent ski trips, suggests this first edition from Shapero Rare Books.

Didier Ltd’s assortment of jewelry by artists included this one-of-a-kind silver brooch made by Harry Bertoia during his time at Cranbrook in the ’40s. And what do you get when you combine a fishing float painted black and a gilded beer can? Louise Nevelson‘s 1984 pendant necklace.
Read more

Jólan van der Wiel‘s “Gravity” stools, tables, candleholders, and bowls appear ripped from an enchanted sea floor–or are they Magic Rocks run amok? At once otherworldly and organic, these moody forms are in fact the products of the Amsterdam-based designer’s “Gravity Tool,” an innovation that earned him top honors at last year’s DMY International Design Festival Berlin. “I admire objects that show an experimental discovery, translated to a functional design,” explains van der Wiel. “It is my belief that developing new ‘tools’ is an important means of inspiration and allows new forms to take shape.” Now, just two years out of the Gerrit Rietveld Academy designLAB, he has a “Gravity stool” at London’s Design Museum, as part of the “Designs of the Year 2013” show that opens today. This short film by Miranda Stet provides a luscious look at van der Wiel’s unique process, which is something of a team effort among opposing magnetic fields, the forces of gravity, two-component plastics, and good old-fashioned elbow grease.

At the TEFAF stand of Tornabuoni Arte, Alighero Boetti’s “Mappa del Mundo” (1980), viewed through tulips. (All photos: UnBeige)

Armory Week has come and gone in New Amsterdam, but the European Fine Art Fair (TEFAF) is just beginning in the Dutch town of Maastricht. Gluttons for masterpieces, we decided to take a field trip. With some 265 exhibiting art and antiques dealers, the 26th edition of the fair opened to the public today after a vernissage that, in the words of a colleague, “makes Art Basel look like a slum”–all savvy lighting, high ceilings, and spacious aisles bursting with tulips, thanks to fair designer Tom Postma.

TEFAF has long been a must for collectors of Old Masters and antiques, and in recent years has boosted its offerings in modern and contemporary art, design, and photography. Were the fair crass enough to have a slogan, it would be “where the museums shop.” We arrived in Maastricht and, fortfied with stroopwafels, set out to see works spanning 6,000 years of history. Let’s just say it’s a good thing that the fair runs through March 24. Here are 25 of our early favorites.

The multilayered stand of Axel Vervoodt. We couldn’t muster the courage to ask him whether he receives a monthly royalty check from Restoration Hardware.

Wartski of London offers (for six figures) the shot that almost killed Tsar Nicholas II of Russia. Fired–maybe accidentally, maybe as an assassination attempt–in 1906, the lead pellet was mounted in gold by Carl Fabergé and presented to the tsar as a creepy souvenir.

Among the standouts in the design section of the fair: a 1921 Wiener Werkstatte table lamp by Dagobert Peche (at Bel Etage, Wolfgang Bauer, Vienna) and a preppy combination of works by Gerrit Thomas Rietveld (at Galerie Ulrich Fiedler).

Claude Lalanne‘s “Grand Lapin de Victoire” (2001) stands sentry at the Ben Brown Fine Arts stand and keeps an eye on the 1984 Basquiat across the way, at Tornabuoni Arte.

At the stand of Robert Hall, bottles, bottles everywhere, but not a drop to drink.
Read more

It is both surreal and disturbing to watch people–Very Important People, no less–stagger around an art fair carrying unwieldy cardboard boxes, but such was the scene at yesterday’s Armory Show preview, where a rapidly shrinking tower of the colorful crates made famous by Andy Warhol was there for the taking. And take they did. The flurry of grabbing, folding, and foreign accents was apropos, as this was “Babel (Brillo Stockholm Type)” (2013) by Charles Lutz. The work was commissioned for the fair by Eric Shiner, director of the Andy Warhol Museum. He also curated the special “Armory Focus: USA” section of the fair, which includes Gagosian Gallery, making its Armory debut with a booth wallpapered in Warhol–the man, the myth, the camouflage.

This outbreak of Brillo Box fever is not an isolated incident. Belgian furniture brand Quinze & Milan has inked the appropriate licensing paperwork with the Andy Warhol Foundation to produce the Andy Warhol Brillo Box pouf (at left), a cushy foam cube screen-printed with the Brillo logo. The stool-sculptures will be unveiled next month at MOST in Milan, but the online retailer Fab is now taking pre-orders at $425 a pop.

Rotterdam-based Studio Makkink & Bey, led by architect Rianne Makkink and designer Jurgen Bey, has long envisioned a progressive office in which the multitasking extends to the furnishings: a seat that doubles as a self-contained desk and cupboard, a flexible “WorkSofa,” a cozy chair that can be coupled up to create instant meeting space (the “EarChair,” pictured above). The studio is showcasing these designs and more as part of “Fantasy Room for Working,” an exhibition on view through Sunday within the Creative Lounge MOV, a huge shared office space in Tokyo. Earlier this week, among the KadE Chair, Vacuum Cleaner Chair, stools, and aprons, was Bey himself–he put his designs to the test by working from the flexible fantasy office for eight days. Studio Makkink & Bey’s Prooff (Progressive Office) “working and living landscape” interior was also recently acquired by Utrecht’s Centraal Museum, where parts of it are on view through May 25. Take note, Marissa Meyer.