Thoughtful building

Recently on Remodelista they spoke of a new shop by the renowned designer Jasper Morrison. I will forever adore his work since I first saw his lovely book "A World Without Words" a really powerful study of images through the movements of early modernism. This chair is an example of the thoughtfulness in which he works. A chair designed for the Corbusier building La Tourette...It looks in perfect sympathy with the building

Chairs drapes

Found on the ever fascinating blog Pia Jane Bijkerk; this photo shoot of Morgan Puett's Mildreds Lane shows off some nice "chair dressing". It looks like the chairs are draped because they are not so nostalgic.....and perhaps the need to hide some flaws. Puett is a master at up-cycling ANYTHING so these chairs have a new role in her orbit.

dress chairs

One who has been dressing chairs since the 90's is Tord Boontje. This "witch" chair was one of the first in a world of chairs made for a fairy land. Enjoy his web site, a world of its own.

Dresses for chairs

I seem to be spotting many dresses for chairs this summer frock made from Volga Linen was seen on Remodelista last week. Are there patterns for such things? Clearly the New Orleans tradition of summer dresses must have had a way covers were done...such interesting research. And are all chairs able to be thought of in the feminine?

Simply building black

Tom Dixon's Slab chair introduced in Milan this fall is another diagram of structure-maybe using the posture of a person more than the least amount of material as a guide. Again black is used as a way to read the structure of the chair-ninja style........

Building Smoke

Maarten Baas is the the punk furniture designer who takes existing pieces, sometimes even precious existing pieces and "liberally fires' them. The result is some very provocative work. They illustrate an idea that its not the color black that is provocative but the MATERIAL of black that is interesting-how ever you get to it.

Building black chairs

After a white week, I am going to move on to a series of black chairs and the idea of black as a material. This is the wonderful Ikea Ellan chair (no longer available) by Chris Martin. I love this chair because it is basically a diagram of a chair, just lines drawn on a page to make a chair. And therefore, the amount of material is very minimal.















image by Rinne Allen

The un-white

This chair by up and coming designer Valentina Gonzalez Wohlers is a terrific bridge from the southern custom of "summer dress" to the super white traditional interior.....She correctly pays homage to Philippe Starck while talking about her work and then pushes all his ideas much further.

Building white out.............

So this chair came across my desk from Cranbrook student Hsin-chun Wang. So interestingly called "Chair Swallow Chair". Its an example of white chairs and how they could have so many other stories. See crazy design blog core 77 for more student work from Cranbrook- America's cutting edge in design education.

Building sitting

I am getting more and more interested in work that is almost "un-designed". Work purely of out of its function OR material. Case in point, these funny Nobody Chairs by danish design studio Komplot. Using a process of laminating a felt mat onto a shell of 100% recycled soda bottles-the utilitarian becomes a character through very simple means...Casper chairs.......Boo!

Wrap building

Hidden deep in an old Marie Claire Maison magazine I found a very intriguing chair by Netherlands designer Ineke Hans. She has been working with the material that are for casts for broken bones and making wonderful textile-like furniture. While looking at her web site note a depth of work and a commitment to furniture for children-lovely.

Building Low

This is a piece by Paola Lenti for the FATSO furniture file. Somehow this is an honest piece, you see it- is what it is-I do not occupy a chair this way but my 12 year old does.....so I understand the function. Lenti has been forging new thinking in living room furniture for decades now...she is designing for the future-

Must be built even bigger

In the market place currently is this MONSTER furniture by Philippe Nigro. Entitled Confluences, it is an exciting prospect to think about the endless opportunities the parts of the puzzle could garner...in your enormous, huge house........

Soft Building.....

This beauty officially goes in the FAT chair series. I spotted it in a Vogue Living that featured a collection of contemporary chairs-part of the Moooi line-entitled Dickie- it has been designed by Anthony Kleinepier. This piece is happily the most commercial of his work-check out the "soft living series"...I thought I was weird embroidering maps on my chairs.....

Building big....

This next series was an idea that I had this summer that one end of the furniture design spectrum was working in this almost painfully constained manner-using the least amount of materials in order atone for the past excesses. And now I would like to look a series of pieces that are on the opposite end of the spectrum. Many upholstered pieces that are huge and use very, very much material! This sofa you could live in, is by architect India Mahdavi (one of my top three favorite designers). I do not think that the form or scale of the pieces are so telling-i.e- big furniture=fat cat.... I think that the material of fabric is still very cheap and work can afford to be excessive where lights, tables, titanium chairs are very dear and must be made accordingly. This furniture is telling the story of economics.

Building beginnings

In honor of the first day of furniture design tomorrow-here is this chair entitled 1000 chairs by Studio Niels en Sven.

seeing building,building seeing

I am going to suspend my Talent+Town series for a little chair viewing. I was working on another train of thought and I realized how much Mr Hockney loves chairs. View more on this wonderful site www.hockneypictures.com.

Building shift

This is the perfect transition chair for me. Named for the Maine resident author E.B. White and made by the much admired southern designer Natalie Chanin. Chanin finds the omnipresent ladder back chairs and weaves new seats for them thus a new story. Its nice to be back.

Building Fabric

Just as I was feeling all original about the sewing chairs, I see this in Vogue Living! Foiled again......The designer is Massimiliano Adami and this was introduced in Milan. Pretty cute, but is it handmade? It would have to be.

Walker and Louise

If Walker Evans and Louise Nevelson fell in love and drove down south to spend a year, they would make chairs like this for their garden party. They would never be compatible in the traditional sense of the word, but they could throw a good bash.