If you made it to Design Miami last week, you undoubtedly came across the 'Beyond Organic: Design in the State of Nature' exhibit housed in the 6,000 square foot space inside The Collins Building where the show's press conference and Design Talks took place. Jacob Slevin was fortunate enough to spend some time with Landscape Architect David Font to discuss his design process and the installation objectives.
Jacob Slevin is a big bear with an even bigger heart. Trained as an architect at Cornell University, he has worked both at Frederic Schwartz Architects and then briefly at FXFOWLE Architects before beginning work on Designer Pages.
More coverage from Design Miami 2008 can be seen at 3Rings:
Campana Brothers' Stuffed Toy Chairs
Fragile Future I
Gonçalo Mabunda's Weapons Chairs
Julia Krantz's Stack-Laminate Plywood Furniture 
The Grid Chair
Max Lamb of Johnson Studio
Antik, New York
Sebastian E of Cristina Grajales Gallery
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Jacob Slevin is both a designer and an entrepreneur. He was trained as an architect at Cornell University, where he additionally concentrated in real estate finance. Jacob worked at Frederic Schwartz Architects, where he helped develop the winning entry for the New Jersey 911 Memorial competition ...
3 Comments
This is an impressive staging of contemporary design objects in a natural setting with local relevance--something that's not easy to do, since quite often when products are just plopped down in nature the effect is unsettling and/or ham-handed. Font's comments about the Hadid Bench and the candelabra are well-taken. One can see how the organic shapes of these pieces are nicely complemented by the surrounding foliage. But I guess I'm still uneasy in general about featuring product in "natural settings." Anyone out there have strong opinions on the subject?
With a last name like Font, Font was predestined to be in design somehow, though I would have bet on typography. Font's interest in being involved with Design Miami shows artistic cleverness, for sure. Having the pleasure of working with a Hadid piece in particular gave Font a great advantage. I like his use of exotic plants, especially those with the magenta-colored leaves. However, I agree with Joe about the problematic nature of exhibiting furniture design in natural settings. I'm not convinced the landscape design set off the design objects--or vice versa. I would have liked to see the Hadid piece in a fantastic stage design instead, perhaps something in the vein of Gorey or Taymor.
From what I viewed in the video there isn't much form to the project. There's a bunch of plants smashed together forming curvy lines. Maybe the video didn't do the design enough justice, but just because the theme is "organic" doesn't mean a fake forest should be the response. I think it's a bit distracting from the actual objects which he (Font) is trying to display. As a Landscape Architect myself it's always disappointing to see other Landscape Architects default to using plants in order to drive form. I think using more artificial, less visually distracting design elements would have been a better choice. Claude Cormier's work is a good example of what I would have envisioned.
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