Image copyright:The Observer

Labels: Chair Bench, Chair Lust of the Month, CHAIRS, Furniture Design, Furniture Gallery V and A, Victoria and Albert Museum

Happy Hallowe'en everyone!

As I sit here devouring my fourth helping of pumpkin pie on this chilly October eve', perhaps it's time to inject a little productivity into an evening wasted spent watching reruns of Black Books with copius amounts of Horlicks. I was about to type that Paul Hollywood would be particularly proud of this pie sans soggy bottom, but then that really would make me middle aged.


Anyway, I'm currently pondering over this as a potential chair lust. Or maybe I just like the idea of it, and am just really craving a Panton instead...

Labels: Aria Shop, Baking and Patisserie, Chair Lust of the Month, CHAIRS, Fabio Novembre, Him and Her Chair, Time Out Magazine

It only just dawned on me as I was paying this month's rent that I still hadn't got round to rambling about my chair lust for September. I know these aren't exactly appropriate for the current nippy Autumnal weather that's hit Blightly... these chairs are a little reminiscent of that point when caramel just begins to lose its sticky consistency and solidifies into a glass-like texture. Yum.

I spotted these back in dOCUMENTA, and I'm a wee bit hooked. I have absolutely no idea what they're called, or whereabouts in Germany they can be acquired from, but I certainly imagine they don't carry the Alessi price tag that's for sure. They were in every other Kassel café, and extremely practical although that's not really essential I guess (ridiculously lightweight, variety of colours, stackable etc). Our time at dOCUMENTA had sporadic bursts on wintry breezes, and each café had taken to providing individual blankets for each customer which was really quite sweet, that wouldn't really happen over here for fear of theft...

Anyway, so yeah. These Kassel Café Chairs have made it into the September instalment of chair lusting.

AND AND AND: my new Moleskine journal arrived! I've yet to begin using it, but it's the Art edition of their 'Passion Journal' range, which includes everything from Chocolate Passion Journal to a Wine Journal, each of which is as equally appropriate for me. But I've opted for the Art Journal, which includes a pull out timeline of Modern Art, a list of contemporary art fairs happening across the globe, amongst numerous other smidgens of Art Historical interest.Within the journal, there are dividers for notes about exhibitions, artworks and art-related events you have been to. An absolute must for any Private View socialite or Frieze fanatic, it even includes a page of art-themed Moleskine stickers. Yes, there is absolutely nothing wrong with being pleased over the simplest things. I'm afraid my photographs are a bit shoddy and were taken just before I left for work this morning at 6:15, which is when I can barely keep my eyes open, let alone look through a camera lens.

The timeline of contemporary art movements. ISM.

Labels: Chair Lust of the Month, CHAIRS, Documenta 13, Moleskine, Moleskine Art Passion Journal, September Chair

What a fine Tuesday morning to be spending in the garden blogging about chairs. I thought I'd squeeze this post in before August completely passes me by next Friday, leaving me forgetting about my four legged companion.

Okay, so this month's is actually something that caught my eye last Saturday when I was sitting in the Geffrye museum flicking through the current edition of Wallpaper. What's more, even though this was first revealed at the 2011 Milan furniture fair, it's definitely not so last year. Jan Plechác has graced this month's blog post. Yes, I bet you're thinking that I've lost my marbles on the 254 bus home last night. But seriously, it's rather cool, non?

Image Courtesy of Design Boom

The Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool. A photograph from years ago. A few months later I found out that they had Knoll chairs in one of the bars on Hardman Street. My life  was completely changed and I've been hooked to Liverpool ever since.

Jan Plechác has interpreted many classics from the last century like the Louis and Panton's Verner chair, but his I'm going to focus on his take on Rietveld's iconic Red Blue chair. Also, I'm considering choosing the original Panton chair as September's Chair Lust of the Month, because we had a set of them in the dining room in my last place in London, and I find myself missing them occasionally, and it would be scandalous to blog about the same (ish) chair twice!

Like Judd, I think this one really tests the boundaries between art and design. I mean, this chair's quintessential purpose is... well, I'm not sure.

It sorts of seems a bit inspired by Dixon or one of those Diamond chairs that Harry Bertoia created for Knoll, perhaps the latter more so. Whereas Bertoia created the diamond chairs with the eye of simplicity for its structure, Plechác seems to explore the idea of the physical space that chairs take up with the wire mesh.

The chair almost feels superfluous, making me wonder if this is another one of those contemporary designs that seem to solely exist to cross (and practically dance along) the line between design and art. It's quite bizarre really, that although his designs are instantaneously recognisable to any chair geek, they are nothing at all like the Rietvelds and Hoffmanns that they emulate so well.

Which is kinda cool really.

www.janandhenry.com

Labels: ART DESIGN AND ARCHITECTURE, Chair Lust of the Month, CHAIRS, Jack Plechác, Wire Chairs

You know that awkward moment when you're about to reach the end of another month and you just at that moment realise you haven't written a rambling blog entry about a chair you really covet at the moment?

No? Oh...

Well, regardless of that, I thought I'd stir things up a bit this month with a bit of art/chair design cross over:

Reflective Arm Chair

Oh YES. This month has totally been devoted to Donald Judd. Born in 1928, worked with architecture, art and furniture (my hero!)

Blatantly inspired by the lovely Gerrit Rietveld, oui? (Image Scanned in from 'A Good Chair is a Good Chair' catalogue)

I must admit, I fell a little in love with those minimalist blocks of loveliness at one of Ikon Gallery's learning based events two years ago. From what I remember, we spent the afternoon sitting surrounded by all this furniture just sketching away, and sporadically bursting into discussion about whether or not you'd buy one yourself (are they even comfortable??) etc.

Here is an installation view taken from the catalogue A Good Chair is a Good Chair (produced by Ikon Gallery and Pinakothek der Moderne). Photography by Stuart Whipps.  As Jonathan Watkins so rightly says in the catalogue's foreword: "...[the exhibition] is the realisation of a project in which visitors can specifically view and study crossovers, differences and the interrelationships between art and design. This is a key example of what we consider to be one of the tasks of a museum in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries."

For those who have ever endured 4 hours searching through that immense bright blue and yellow home furnishing store, doesn't it feel a bit flatpack-of-1979? (http://www.ikea.com/ms/en_CA/img/pdf/Billy_Anniv_en.pdf)

Philippe Starck's WW Stool: perhaps a bit impractical

Of course, I won't compare Kamprad to Judd here. Judd explains himself that each of his furniture designs are meticulously thought out to the minute detail, and every attention is put into the craftsmanship of individual part. In fact, his work is still being manufactured today, which illustrates how minimal basic furniture need not come in a flatpack box afterall...

Judd's work is the paradigm for form following function, as he states in "It's Hard to Find a Good Lamp" (1993); "If a chair or a building is not functional, if it appears to be only art, it is ridiculous..."

Well, I'm afraid I have an ÜBER massive crush on Phillpe Starck so I can't say I entirely agree with that statement but it's interesting nonetheless. I think there's always going to be a place for impractical and eclectic furniture in our world. I mean, Starck's work is as popular as ever, and it would appear that people are still fascinated with and covet the designs of Ettore Sottsass amongst numerous others.

So I guess fundamentally, Donald Judd is the antithesis to Postmodernism.

Which is pretty cool.

Labels: A good chair is a good chair, Art Design Crossover, Chair Lust of the Month, CHAIRS, CLOTM, Donald Judd, Ikon Gallery, Minimalist Furniture

A need to escape London (again...) struck about 10 days ago, so the weekend before last I tucked a biro and small sketchbook into my back pocket and went away to Brighton for a day. Stupidly, I'd forgotten about the imminent monsoon that was due to hit the south coast that day, so inevitably most of the afternoon was spent indoors, although I did risk a few hours walking against the beating rain along the beach.

Looking back in hindsight, I suppose it was pretty cool that the weather was naff, otherwise I might not have spent a great deal of time in Brighton's Museum & Art Gallery. Currently displaying a select number of classic and contemporary chairs, I definitely acquired my furniture designer fix of the week: Thomas Heatherwick.

Keep Off the Glass (2005)

WW (1990)

Labels: ART DESIGN AND ARCHITECTURE, Chair Design, Chair Lust of the Month, CHAIRS, Furniture Design, Ghost Chair, Philippe Starck, Thomas Heatherwick, Vermeers Victoria Sponge, WW Stool

Well, I've made it to post number 21!

© UtilityDesign

So, March's major chair lust was the Osso chair, which has been nominated for Designs of the year 2012. However, with a new month upon us, something else has caught my eye a little...

This is Sjoerd Vroonland's design for Moooi: The Extension Chair

Très intéressant, ouaih? At this moment in time I'm pondering how about this cantilever action is incorporates (it must have additional weight pumped into the one side, surely?)

Survey; A series of 6266 postcards between 2009- 2012

Could I get away with justifying this as an office purchase? Not really. But the chair's quirks are growing on me a little, it's both useful and useless at the same time. What I mean by that is; one of the chair extensions acts as a coat hanger, and I can't think of one person in the office who doesn't throw their coat over the back of their chair. But maybe this is sparking a change? Perhaps Moooi are encouraging us to embrace the 6ft stick? Who knows... but I'm heading off for a meeting at the V&A tomorrow morning, so I'll undoubtedly rekindle a lust for an old classic at their British Design Exhibition at some point that day.

Also if you get a chance, go have a look around Zoe Leonard's exhibition at Camden Arts Centre. I went there yesterday to bask in the glorious weather. Their café= divineee!

Leonard chose to include a few drilled holes from the previous deinstall as part of her work. Quite like this.

♥ camera obscura love.

Blossom and art galleries: the finest combination.

You walk into Gallery1, where Leonard has created a backdrop of CAC's surroundings through the medium of a camera obscura. It's rather mesmerising, you just watch thus urban landscape which kind of feels like a form of escapism. You forget your surroundings for a moment, and just gaze out at the city landscape in front of you in a moment of serenity (albeit, assisted by the great bean bags...). It's rather odd actually thinking about it, because even though the work is a direct projection of Arkwright Road, that piece in the exhibition is actually courtesy of Galerie Gisela Captain Colone and Galleria Raffaela Cortese Milan.

How can a work like this be owned by a gallery? Humm...




The MOOOI chair can be purchased from Utility Design, Liverpool 

Zoe Leonard: Observation Point runs at Camden Arts Centre until June 24 2012

www.vam.ac.uk
www.utilitydesign.co.uk
www.camdenartscentre.org

Labels: British Design Victoria and Albert Museum, Camden Arts Centre, Camera Obscura, Chair Lust of the Month, CHAIRS, Design Museum, MOOOI Extension Chair, VVS