Japanese design studio Nendo has created a range of chairs with wood grain patterns printed onto natural timber for a forthcoming solo show in Milan.
Nendo‘s series features six chairs, each one mixing a different combination of wood and printed grain.
The Print-chairs feature two square wooden panels atop four legs connected by two pieces of interlocking metal. The simplicity of the design highlights the intricate series of patterns the Japanese studio has printed onto the seat and back rest of the chairs.
“We experimented with different degrees of combination,” said the designers. “For some seats we layered two different woodgrain patterns, and for others printed enlarged, abstracted woodgrain patterns onto the existing pattern.”
In one example, the studio printed an enlargement of a grain typically found in a single piece of wood onto one with a finer grain. The result is a distorted perspective with the viewer uncertain of which grain is indigenous to the wood and which has been superimposed.
In another instance, the team changed the angle of the original grain and printed it over the existing one.
“We also experimented with other materials, printing a marble pattern onto the wood,” said Nendo.
Nendo also experimented with colour in the series. In one chair, a pale palette typically found in woods such as pine and birch gradually fades into deeper shades such as those seen in mahogany and teak.
“Thanks to printing technology we could make fine adjustments like the scale, density and colours over and over, bringing out the charm and attraction of natural materials from a variety of angles,” Nendo said.
In perhaps the most extreme combination, Nendo created a chair out of chipboard and then printed a grain over the top.
The six chairs will be exhibited at the studio’s solo exhibition Works by Nendo at Via delle Erbe 2 in Milan’s Brera district, during the city’s design week in April.
This is generation-next and we are on Web 2.0, if we can’t leverage our access to IT then we have no right to be here. This applies to every industry, especially design. Sure, you can walk over to Ikea and buy yet another generic table, and in another lifetime you can, from the comfort of your air-conditioned room, flick on the computer, key in some customized essentials and get a sexy, color-coordinated Cromatti home delivered for free!
Cromatti is home to a pallet of self-expression through modern designs. Pick from a range of Bar Stools, Cocktail Table, Tables and Benches, all of which can be color customized. The key to Cromatti is the wide range of colors available, all of it being made in California and of course the free shipping! Halleluiah!
When I asked Dan Maddox, the founder and CEO of Cromatti, what led him to build this customize solution specifically for online, he recounted the story of how had moved into a new home and rented out his previous home to an Interior Designer from the UK. Apparently the rented house was painted all white – even the floor; it had an asylum feel. The designer in her elements transformed this stark interior into something vibrant, hip and chromatic. Dan saw how she took a “blank canvas” and applied colors that truly reflected her personality and the feeling she wanted the space to embody.
Wow – so this episode inspired Dan to create designs that would allow this concept of color to become a reality, which has become what Cromatti is today. The intention is to provide a pallet of self-expression to us folks, and to create furniture that is as unique as our personality.
What really happens on their page is that you pick your style of furniture, then pick a color for the top and then the base, and viola! You are done! It’s a truly great interactive experience; one that you should try asap here.
Alan Rauta, co-founder and COO, says that Cromatti was founded because of the team’s passion for design. In his words, “There are many of us with great ideas and sometimes we are too afraid to take a risk. Thankfully we live in a time where technology can create a positive impact in our daily lives. Technology has played a significant role in our research, sourcing and establishing practices; all the tools are out there. It’s just a matter on knowing what to do with them.” We agree!
The Vera Bar Stool transforms your space with the simplistic versatility. A variety of colors and fabric options to fit your room design are available online. Choice of Sudden Fabric or Angelina Leather, and of course Made in California, USA!
A very playful design is reflected in this colorful cocktail table. Comprised of hand-welded metal in your choice of color and quality glass surface, the Enzo Occasional Table serves as an impressive and sturdy centerpiece.
The versatile Alessio Table can be used independently or teamed with other Cromatti products. You can nest other Cromatti pieces like the Marciano Stool or Piazza Ottoman and a range of functional and visual uses. The table comes in your choice of color and surface to present a piece that is certain to garner attention and inspire creativity.
The Luciano is an expansion of the Armavi table. Its ingenious C shape design provides generous surface space that fits snugly with other furniture pieces to maximize small spaces.
The Massimo Bench is a magnificent piece that can be customized in a range of finishes and fabrics.
– Yanko Design Timeless Designs – Explore wonderful concepts from around the world! Shop CKIE – We are more than just concepts. See what’s hot at the CKIE store by Yanko Design! (Color Me Innovative was originally posted on Yanko Design)
Barcelona designer Martin Azua has created a table that plays on the contrast in properties between wood and stone (+ slideshow).
The Trees and Rocks table features central discs of Venato Carrara marble set into a main frame of Spanish walnut, but future versions may feature different combinations of material.
“I wanted to make a table with two fine materials that are very attractive in themselves and don’t need any kind of ornamentation because their surface are always different and full of information,” said Azua. “The wood is warm and soft and the marble is cold and tough.”
The marble also serves a practical function, creating a heat- and scratch-resistant section on the surface of the table.
Azua’s latest creation is part of his Numbered collection, which features products created in collaboration with local craftsmen using local materials.
Each piece is designed to incorporate elements that can evolve and change naturally with time and use.
The Object élevé is an oak and black steel installation commissioned by designer Just Haasnoot for his home in Wassenaar, an affluent suburb in The Hague.
It combines storage and access to the upper floor via a series of open frame boxes.
Handmade in Mieke Meijer‘s Eindhoven workshop, the industrial nature of the piece sits in deliberate contrast to the pale blue walls and muted tones of the residence that was built in the 1930s.
“The construction, built from both standing and suspended parts, largely consists of open frames allowing the design’s transparent character to be maintained,” explained Meijer.
The staircase is based on the samba system of alternating steps to allow the staircase to rise at a steep angle, while still remaining comfortable to walk up and down.
The lower half of the steps features wide pieces of oak integrated into the shelving and storage unit. These also serve as spaces for plants and ornaments and form part of a desk.
Halfway up the steps however, the design and purpose of the stairs changes. The steps become smaller, and form part of a suspended structure.
It features a large flat piece of oak that acts as a shelf and display, and space for a makeshift bookcase.
Beside the desk sits a cupboard with three shelves slotted into the lower structure to complete the piece.
“We were inspired by the photographs of Bernd and Hilla Becher,” said Meijer. “The Bechers’ black and white photography is renowned for the systematic photo series of industrial buildings that closely resemble each other in function and design. We reconstructed these buildings into functional installations.”
The Dutch design studio also took inspiration from the German photographers’ work in one of their earlier pieces, the Winding Tower 01 table.
Bangkok designers THINKK Studio have created a modular shelving system made from wooden batons with perforated aluminium surfaces that slot in to create dividers or hide clutter.
THINKK Studio wanted to develop a versatile, stackable shelving design that provides multiple functionalities, including hanging space and adjustable surfaces.
“To find a fresh system for modular shelving we decided to start the project by thinking about detail first,” the designers told Dezeen.
They created a framework comprising jointed wooden batons that stack neatly thanks to the arrangement at each corner and don’t require any additional fixings to lock the individual modules together.
“The cross-section of the four legs is intentionally designed for stacking,” added the designers. “When the shelves are flipped horizontally and stacked on top of another one, the legs perfectly insert down and sit on the lower shelf.”
Flipping and stacking the units creates a random rhythm of the vertical bracing bars and additional metal surfaces.
Vertical batons on either side of the shelves protrude above the horizontal surface to provide a hanging hook.
Slits in the shelves and batons opposite create gaps into which the perforated aluminium sheets can be slid to provide surfaces for dividing the space, hiding mess or acting as a backdrop for objects.
The aluminium surfaces are also fitted to the two vertical bars to create an additional horizontal shelf in the middle of each unit.
The modules are available in natural oak or in a variety of coloured stains, with the aluminium sheets produced in complementary hues.
THINKK Studio will present the Stackle shelving system at the Ventura Lambrate design district during next month’s Salone Internazionale del Mobile.
From the maker of the Slate Mobile AirDesk (we’re obsessed with it) comes a big brother version called the SlatePro. It fits any size computer or laptop and has multiple display docks for all your phone or tablet devices too! The air vents provide constant cooling for your laptop and other tech products. Plus, it has a heavy duty mousepad that sits flush against the surface. There’s even a recessed cup holder to avoid any water damage to your devices!
For the celebration of Hans Wegner’s 100th Anniversary, PP Mobler is launching 3 exclusive chairs as a tribute to the renowned designer. The first, called the Tub Chair, is a unique fusion where Wegner merged the new moulding plywood technique with upholstery and traditional woodwork. Its complexity is a brilliant example of the bold and pioneering experiments that Wegner conducted throughout his career.
“These chairs are important because they are outstanding and unique examples of Wegner’s work with easy chairs, but also because they are unique examples of good design in general. They offer inspiration with pioneering concepts, and they do it as extremely good quality products that are comfortable and will last for a lifetime” explains Master of Craftsmen Kasper Holst Pedersen, PP Mobler.
Furniture by prolific Danish Modernist designer Hans J. Wegner will go on display at Copenhagen‘s design museum next month, marking the one-hundredth anniversary of his birth.
CH24 The Wishbone Chair, 1949, produced by Carl Hansen and Son (also main image)
The Just One Good Chair exhibition at Designmuseum Danmark will showcase a retrospective of work by Hans J. Wegner, who designed over 1500 chairs and other furniture pieces before he passed away in 2007.
Pp550 The Peacock Chair, 1947
“If only you could design just one good chair in your life… But you simply cannot,” Wegner was quoted saying in 1952.
PP550 The Peacock Chair, 1947
The exhibition will tell the story of his life and work, using over 150 pieces of his furniture alongside drawings, photos and models.
PP250 The Valet Chair, 1953
“I’d say he’s the most important Danish designer ever,” the exhibition’s curator Christian Holmsted Olesen told Dezeen. “The reason for that is that he developed this new organic Modernism, which became so popular especially in the US in the 1950s and 1960s.”
PP250 The Valet Chair, 1953
His most recognisable designs including the Wishbone Chair – named after the shape of its back support – and the bent plywood Shell Chair endured the Postmodern era, and remain as popular today as they were when they were first issued.
PP19 The Teddy Bear Chair, 1951
“During the 1980s the Postmodernists were criticising the Modernist design because it was boring, too rational, too anonymous,” Holmsted Olesen said. “Wegner’s design is never boring – it’s full of fantasy, it’s very poetic and it’s very human in its approach. It still is very rational and everything can be explained about the way it is constructed.”
PP19 The Teddy Bear Chair, 1951
Wegner trained as a cabinet maker before studying at the Danish School of Arts and Crafts under Kaare Klint, the so-called Father of Danish Design.
PP502 The Swivel Chair, 1955
Wegner was soon commissioned to design furniture for Copenhagen brands such as Rud Rasmussen.
PP502 The Swivel Chair, 1955
He spent hours measuring chairs from other cultures, especially Chinese, so he could prefect the shapes in his own pieces. “He was inspired by historical typologies and the idea of refining things from the past,”explained Holmsted Olesen.
PP502 The Swivel Chair, 1955
In 1949, Americans visiting an exhibition of Danish furniture that included Wegner’s work saw one of his seats and named it “The Chair,” as they considered it perfect.
PP512 The Folding Chair, 1949
“Everyone had given up on craft all over the world and in the US there was a craft revival just after the Second World War, because everyone had seen what disaster the industrial development had created,” said Holmsted Olesen.
PP225 The Flag Halyard Chair, 1950, also main image
“Denmark really had something good at that time to present to the whole world and Hans Wenger was very good at designing in these organic forms,” he continued. “The international modernist movement, which came from Central Europe and the Bauhaus, had developed into more organic forms in architecture. But there was very little organic furniture design and he was one of the only designers doing this, so that’s why he came so popular in the 1950s and 1960s.”
PP56/PP66 The Chinese Chair, 1945
The exhibition will also include prototypes that are previously undisplayed, such a lounge chair that Wegner kept in his own home and was used solely by his wife.
PP56/PP66 The Chinese Chair, 1945
Wegner’s furniture is currently produced by three Danish firms – Carl Hansen & Son, PP Mobler and Fritz Hansen – using the same traditional craft techniques as in the 1950s and 1960s.
The exhibition opens on 3 April and will continue until 2 November.
Here’s some more text sent to us by the museum:
Wegner – Just One Good Chair
Designmuseum Danmark marks the 100-year anniversary of Hans J. Wegner’s birth with a large exhibition, opening 3 April 2014.
“If only you could design just one good chair in your life . . . But you simply cannot” – Hans J. Wegner, 1952.
Hans J. Wegner (1914-2007) was one of history’s most prolific designers. In 1949 he created the design that the Americans called The Chair. The perfect chair – but he continued designing new ones nonetheless, producing a total of over 500. He was referred to as The King of Chairs – or just the Chair Maker. His furniture paved the way for Danish Design’s international breakthrough in the years after World War II, and he was to become a leading figure in Organic Modernism.
PP58/PP68 The Ultimate Chair, 1987
A poetic take on modernism
Wegner’s work always took its starting point in craftsmanship, and he produced nearly all of his own prototypes in the workshop. His life is best understood as an enduring mission to understand the logic and the potential of wood. He showed the modern world that the old virtues of craftsmanship, such as sensuality, beautiful detailing and the use of natural materials, also have a place in the modern industrialised world. Wegner’s approach to design was neither retrospective nor romantic, but his furniture was nevertheless full of poetry – which is why his designs, despite the fact that they are wholly rational and grounded in functionality, have remained popular right up to the present day, even escaping criticism from the postmodernists. In our late postmodern times, Wegner in many ways represents a more human route into modernism.
PP58/PP68 The Ultimate Chair, 1987
A cornerstone in Danish design
The exhibition tells the story of Wegner’s life and career, showing more than 150 of his major original works from the time, drawings, photos and models, exploring Wegner’s working methods and vast oeuvre. It is also possible to try out and touch over 50 newly produced Wegner-pieces in the exhibition. Along with film and furniture, by some of his contemporaries, like Charles & Ray Eames, Finn Juhl, Arne Jacobsen and Mies van der Rohe, the exhibition shows how the finest wooden furniture is made.
Wegner’s work was the product of the Danish Furniture School – while also representing a break with it because of his free, artistic mode of expression. Founded by Professor Kaare Klint in the 1920s, The Danish Furniture School set out to build on traditions. Historic furniture from different cultures and eras, from Designmuseum Danmarks’s collection, was studied, refined, and adapted to contemporary needs. A hallmark of Danish design is the desire to perfect the very best work found in other cultures and eras. The history of Danish design is like the history of Danish politics – defined not by revolution, but by evolution. This pragmatic, humanistic and democratic thinking is seen throughout every aspect of Danish society, and it is in this context that the characteristically clean lines of Danish products should be understood.
PP503 The Chair, 1949
Traditionalist and modernist
Wegner worked his whole life towards improving old Chinese and English chairs, along with new, modernist furniture; and towards simplifying and beautifying them, in order to enhance their artistic expression, while also making them more suitable for industrial or mass production. The majority of his most ground-breaking ideas were presented at the annual Joiners’ Guild Exhibition at the Designmuseum Denmark. It’s at these exhibitions that Americans came to see the quality of Danish furniture art, and began to write about it. What was special about Wegner, as a Danish designer, was his ability to develop classic design ideals into something completely new, often finding inspiration in centuries-old handcrafts. With his organic shapes, inspired by ancient tools such as axe-handles and oars, Wegner made his impact on the artistic movement of the time: Organic Modernism.
The exhibition tells the story of how and why Wegner and Danish design made such an impression in the 1950s throughout America and the rest of the world. What makes Danish design special in relation to German, American and Italian design, for instance? And why is Danish design, and Wegner’s in particular, so popular in Asia today, serving as a model for so many of the greatest designers of our time – such as Jasper Morrison, Naoto Fukasawa, Tadeo Ando and Konstantin Grcic. The exhibition shows not only Wegner’s work, but also some of the most significant post-war Danish and international designers; works of historical inspiration from the Designmuseum Danmark’s collection; and also current international work, inspired by Danish design.
PP501 The Chair, 1949
The exhibition is shown from the 3 April 2014 to 2 November 2014 and is accompanied by a richly illustrated book on Wegner’s work, published in Danish by Strandberg Publishing and in English and German by Hatje Cantz Verlag.
The museum, Kunstmuseet i Tønder, also celebrates Hans J. Wegner with an exhibition. For more information please go go: museum-sonderjylland.dk.
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
