Chairs, Chair Design and Chair Designers
Sit! chair, c. 1990
Mirror-polished stainless steel, tempered sprung steel. 92 cm (36 in) high Produced by The Gallery Mourmans, The Netherlands. Number 17 from the edition of 20 plus five artist’s proofs. Side incised with 17 / 20 Ron Arad.
ESTIMATE £40,000-60,000
SOLD AT £43,250
Swedish designer Fredrik Färg presented his collection of ‘muscular’ leather stools that seem to be made to resemble dogs’ bodies without heads. Called Succession, the collection was part of 20 Designers at Biologiska exhibition during Stockholm Furniture Fair in February. The bumps and grooves on the surface of the stools were created by wrapping rope around each object and then applying heat.
Via dezeen.com
Amos Field Reid pointed me to the Thonet no. 14 project where 6 young UK based designers marked the 150th anniversary of the Thonet no. 14 in 2009 by replacing only the seats. More can be read on WC Frank’s site.
The challenge was to find a balance between pragmatic restoration and sympathetic innovation.
The tensioned Drum seat features an interpretation of the pattern that once adorned many of the Thonet plywood seats, is high on comfort, low in weight and can be fitted without tools. As a simple Âorganic material that lasts and ages well, leather seemed a match for the chairs aged beech limbs, whilst the strapping shares the bolt-it-together pragmatism typical of Thonet’s constructions.
This piece was produced in collaboration with leather craftsman Justin Parker.
Just strip a pallet, apply some para cord and there you hang. Look at Tools and Materials to see how to create this DIY Crate Hammock.
Hide Away Furniture by Dunne and Raby, Anthony Dunne and Fiona Raby in collaboration with Michael Anastassiades.
‘Hide Away Furniture, Type 01’, 2005
Laminated English oak, felt. Chair: 90.2 cm (35 1/2 in) high; flooring: 3.8 × 295 × 202 cm (1 1/2 × 116 1/8 × 79 1/2 in) From an edition of three. From the ‘Designs for Fragile Personalities in Anxious Times’ series.
ESTIMATE £10,000-15,000 â€
There are three versions. Like the other pieces in the collection, they are designed to meet irrational but real needs, in this case, a fear of alien abduction.
via Phillips de Pury & Company.
About Dunne and Raby
Dunne & Raby use design as a medium to stimulate discussion and debate amongst designers, industry and the public about the social, cultural and ethical implications of existing and emerging technologies.
Anthony is professor and head of the Design Interactions department at the Royal College of Art in London. He studied Industrial Design at the RCA before working at Sony Design in Tokyo. On returning to London he completed a PhD in Computer Related Design at the RCA. He was a founding member of the CRD Research Studio where he worked as a Senior Research Fellow leading EU and industry funded research projects. Anthony was awarded the Sir Misha Black Award for Innovation in Design Education in 2009.
Fiona Raby studied Architecture at the RCA before working for Kei’ichi Irie Architects in Tokyo. She also holds an MPhil in Computer Related Design from the RCA. She was a founding member of the CRD Research Studio where she worked as a Senior Research Fellow leading externally funded research projects. She taught in Architecture for over 10 years before teaching in Design Interactions.
