Subtly Creepy

We all know there are some scary looking products and furniture out there (e.g. Campana brother’s Edra beds or anything Ross Lovegrove); it comes with the territory of pushing boundaries, changing aesthetics, and making people think. 

There is another class of works of design though that slowly and subtly starts to make you uncomfortable when you are left alone in a room with them, or suspiciously appear in dreams right before they become nightmares.  These projects may be beautiful, clever, interesting, and even downright good for your health; there is still something undeniably unsettling about being in/near or wearing them.

Creepiness being a very subjective quality, the following may not have the same effect on you as yours truly. Here are few examples that although they don’t make my skin crawl, definitely make it goose-bump slightly:  

Hiroshima studio Tsukano Architect Office did not like the views from this lot in Miyazaki, so they replaced them with a plain white wall. Although the wall is reflective enough to create nicely day-lit interiors, there is a post-apocalyptic feel like the whole house has been swallowed by the Blob, or is in the midst of being raptured.  

Zaha Hadid’s ‘Aria’ pendant light is a very graceful shape which beautifully dispersed light; but I wouldn’t stand too close for fear of being swallowed up by it in a swift spider-like motion. Especially in a group, these lights could certainly be featured on their own planet in a sci-fi flick.

‘Shivering bowls’ is a project designed by Nendo in response to a commission by the Triennale Design Museum of Milan to do with the idea of Eros. These thin silicone bowls are meant to invoke desire, as the viewer should uncontrollably want to touch them.

The bowls are so thin that a slight breeze causes them to shiver (see video below), and (I would imagine) the last person leaving the museum to shudder and look over their shoulder on the way out. 

The ‘Darwin’ coffee table was designed by gene-mapping the DNA of one Giulia Wolthuis, creating patterns with specifically designed software. Although this is a very innovative and fascinating process, it somehow feels like some kind of genetic ethics law is being breached. The shiny white lacquer covered in glass like a lab section probably doesn’t help. Below, the gene-donor and her table-clone. 

 Yves Behar’s latest contribution to the Jawbone brand is a wristband that the user keeps on at all time (24/7: in bed, in the shower, everywhere, all the time), that monitors how they eat, sleep and move. I’m no conspiracy theorist, but this a little ‘Brave New World’ even for me… There is also something about the semi-faceted, rubbery surface of the bracelet that is maybe a little too futuristic sci-fi thriller.   

Made for slabs of oddly frosted resin in muted pastel colors, the ‘Haze’ collection by Wonmin Park has a little bit of a ‘killed in a terrible accident involving an ice-cold body of water and came back to haunt you’ feel.

The ‘Traffic’ armchair by Konstantin Grcic for Magis features an intricate wireframe base wrapped around the seat, back and arm cushions. I realize I’ve been on a bit of a murder kick at the moment, but if this doesn’t say ‘torture apparatus’ I don’t know what does!

by Claire Toussaint