Monday, December 3, 2012

Alternative Upholstery


Beyond fiber and down, here is a series of furniture pieces where designers tried to think differently about upholstery…


Tokujin Yoshioka uses fabric in a completely different way to create a flower-like effect for the ‘Bouquet’ chair. The upholstery of hand sewn fabric ‘petals’ becomes the cushion rather than covering one.







What Hans Bellmer did to his girlfriend Unica Zurn (see below), Meike Harde is doing to foam mats, creating a not only aesthetically interesting but functional pieces with integrated storage.
'Tenir au Frais' by Hans Bellmer




Somewhere between Christo and a spider, the Thread-wrapping-machine designed by Anton Alvarez envelops pieces of furniture in colorful thread, replacing nails and screws to hold it together, with surprising results.











A close cousin of knit-bombing, this crochet method is an interesting way to dress up some of the less padded furniture options. Le Corbusier’s LC4 has never looked so cozy.






Why separate pillows from the sofa when the whole composition could be covered in a single slip-cover?






 
Who says sofas should be filled with either foam or down? Certainly not Ola Giertz, who decided to fill transparent poufs with hair. Modern take on old-timey mattresses? Quite a novel eco-friendly idea, although I’m not sure it passes CA 117.




By Claire Toussaint

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