Artful Chairs

Art and furniture design have been closely linked for a very long time (e.g. Rietveld’s ‘Mondrian’ chair, or Dali’s ‘Mae West’ installation featuring a sofa in the shape of lips). The permeability of the two cultures goes beyond referencing each other, and has become innate.

Here are a few examples of creative cross-contamination…

 

 Maarten Baas’ ‘Plain’ collection of painted clay furniture has skinny, uneven and wobbly limbs, much like the painted bronze sculptures of Giacometti.

Ron Arad’s ‘Spring’ collection has the bright colors, rounded shapes and cartoonishness of Keith Haring’s street to gallery art.

Much like Theo Jansen’s moving sculptures, Zanotta’s ‘Reale’ table seems like it might go strolling down the beach with only the wind in its structure. 

Comic book clouds are printed in small dots on the top of Nendo’s ‘Cloud’ table, which is reminiscent of the pop-art works of Roy Lichtenstein (in a quiet Japanese sort of way). 

You can somewhat recreate the reflective nymphea-like effect of Buren’s Grand Palais installation in your living room, thanks to Nendo’s ‘Pond’ tables which even include the artist’s famous stripe (although not at 8.7cm wide).

Made of hundreds of little rings stuck together to create the shell of a piece of furniture, the pieces of the ‘Engineering Temporality’ collection by Tuomas Markunpoika Tolvanen bare a strong resemblance with the works of Tara Donovan, who covers large walls with polystyrene cups, metal rings or cut straws to impactful, organic effect.

With functionality being the only separating factor, Duchamp and Castiglioni’s ready-mades directly correlate to each other. Castiglioni assembles three pieces to create a seat, while Duchamp adds a wheel to a seat to create art.

Moroso’s ‘Muebles Amorosos’ armchair looks like it’s evolved from Sol Lewitt’s primordial soup. 

By Claire Toussaint