Hasta La Ideas

Product news: furniture brand Vitsœ has reissued a classic chair by German designer Dieter Rams, the former head of design at Braun.

The 620 Chair Programme, first designed in 1962, has been “comprehensively re-engineered” according to Vitsœ, which last year was granted an exclusive global licence to produce Rams’ furniture designs.

Like Rams’ 606 Universal Shelving System, which Rams designed for Vitsœ in the same year, the chair is an adaptable piece of furniture that can be joined with other chairs to form a multi-seat sofa. Its castors can also be swapped for a swivel base.

Dezeen previously recorded a podcast with Rams at London’s Design Museum, where he talked to Vitsœ managing director Mark Adams about an exhibition of his work at the museum – see more stories about Dieter Rams.

Photographs are by Vitsœ.

Here’s more information from Vitsœ:

New licence, new Vitsœ chair production

Following Dieter Rams granting Vitsœ the exclusive worldwide licence to his original furniture designs, Vitsœ is pleased to announce it has comprehensively re-engineered Rams’s 620 Chair Programme delivering exceptional improvements in both quality and price. The 620 Chair Programme – marking its 50th anniversary – will be available from 9 May.

Vitsœ’s new production of 620 shows characteristic rigour and attention to detail. The chair has been completely re-engineered, right down to the last purpose-designed stainless-steel bolt. In turn, the very best traditional upholstery skills have been revived to ensure a chair that will last for generations, a point reinforced by the choice of a sumptuous full-grain aniline-dyed leather that will only improve with age. All of this has been achieved while prices have been reduced.

Designed for Vitsœ in 1962, the 620 Chair Programme has won numerous prizes and is collected by, and exhibited in, museums and galleries worldwide. Notoriously, in 1968, the chair was copied. Vitsœ’s co-founder, Niels Vitsœ, fought a lengthy court case that culminated in the chair being granted rare copyright protection in 1973.

Like its sibling the 606 Universal Shelving System, which was designed by Dieter Rams in 1962, the 620 Chair Programme is a carefully-conceived kit of parts. For example, a single chair can become a multi-seat sofa when more chairs are added. Or a chair on castors can be transformed into a swivelling chair.

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relaunched by Vitsœ appeared first on Dezeen.

Product news: this armchair by London designer Benjamin Hubert weighs just three kilograms.

Called Membrane, the chair by Benjamin Hubert for German brand Classicon comprises a steel and aluminium frame covered in 3D-woven mesh fabric.

“The chair stems from research into the construction of tents and sports products with a focus on space frames and stretched textile,” says Hubert.

The CNC-shaped framework is wrapped in a 3D-woven stretchy textile cover with integrated seat pads, fastened with zips.

“The combination of metal frame and padded textile allows Membrane to use a minimal amount of polyurethane foam – a conventional armchair would be covered almost entirely with foam – therefore reducing the carbon footprint of this type of product,” Hubert adds.

The design was presented at the Salone Internazionale del Mobile in April.

In London last year Hubert launched a collection of lamps made from underwear fabric stretched over wire frames that was also based on tensile structures.

See all our stories about design by Benjamin Hubert »
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See all our stories about Milan 2013 »

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for Classicon appeared first on Dezeen.

Milan 2013: Netherlands-based designer Tomáš Gabzdil Libertíny presented a solid marble chair at the Bagatti Valsecchi exhibition curated by Rossana Orlandi in Milan.

Tomáš Gabzdil Libertíny collaborated with sculptors at the Henraux Foundation – a company that specialises in marble production – when creating the Bust chair.

“After an exchange of ideas, the fluid robust form with cantilevered seat offered itself to a beautiful combination with marble. The chair is a sculptural study on comfort and ergonomics,” explains the designer.

The Bust chair exists in both an indoor and outdoor version, the latter of which is equipped with small holes for drainage.

Tomáš Gabzdil Libertíny is famous for his series of honeycomb vases made by bees. We’ve also featured his cabinet stained with ink from a ball-point pen and paper vases turned on a lathe.

The Henraux Foundation has previously worked with some of the world’s leading artists including Henry Moore, Hans Arp and Isamu Noguchi.

The Bagatti Valsecchi 2.0 exhibition by Rossana Orlandi also featured a sofa with a cast concrete seat by JamesPlumb and a purposefully inaccurate time-keeping device by Maarten Baas. Read more about the Bagatti Valsecchiexhibition.

See all our stories about chair design »
See all our coverage of Milan 2013 »

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Tomáš Gabzdil Libertíny appeared first on Dezeen.

Milan 2013: Dutch designer Bertjan Pot has created lightweight chairs for furniture brand Arco that have wooden seats with edges curved tightly over the aluminium frames.

Designed for Dutch furniture brand Arco, Buzz by Bertjan Pot combines 3D-formed, wafer-thin veneers with tubular aluminium frames in order to make the chairs as lightweight as possible.

The ultra-thin veneers allow the seat to fold closely around the frame in all directions.

Available in beech or oak, the chairs come with legs in a variety of colours.

Buzz forms part of a range called Table Manners that features tables, chairs, cabinets and other small pieces of furniture, all of which were presented at the Salone Internazionale del Mobile in Milan last month.

We previously featured a chair wrapped in a jumper by Bertjan Pot and also the Lazy Bastard chair filled with polystyrene balls like a beanbag.

Last year in Milan Arco presented a shelf by Raw Edges where the front slides down to create a desk.

See all our stories about design at Milan 2013 »

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for Arco appeared first on Dezeen.

Milan 2013: Zaha Hadid folded a round sheet of plastic to create this chair for Italian brand Sawaya & Moroni (+ slideshow).

The single indigo-coloured sheet has been creased along two lines so the edges almost meet at the back, then bent in the middle to create the seat and backrest.

Edges that touch the floor have been levelled to stabilise the chair.

Scored bands follow the shape of the seat and curve around droplet shaped holes in each side.

The chair was unveiled at the Sawaya & Moroni showroom in Milan earlier this month. Zaha Hadid created a zig-zagging chair for the brand in 2011.

She also presented twisting auditorium seats, monochrome pendant lamps, sculptural outdoor benches and a sofa based on rock formations during the city’s design week this year.

Hadid was crowned businesswoman of the year at the Veuve Clicquot awards in London earlier this week.

See more architecture and design by Zaha Hadid »
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See all of our Milan 2013 coverage »

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for Sawaya & Moroni appeared first on Dezeen.