The IHT's Alice Rawsthorn discusses the architect's relationship with furniture design, from the mid-century modernist response to necessity to the contemporary architect's familiarity with new technology capable of creating unprecedented forms.
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I've never fully grasped Greg Lynn's appeal; having said that, anyone care to explain the "Duke and Duchess" chairs, slide 7of9 above; they seem to be creatures of arrogance;
Yeah, there is a new set of frank gehry chairs ( http://3rings.designerpages.com/2008/03/03/frank-gehry-furniture-collection/ ) and the sentiment is the same - awesome looking, but not practical.
I love those Levete shelves, but would never want them in my home. I think it's because I have a fairly stripped-down home filled with art, and I don't like how those shelves become decorative objects on a wall, like art. It's a constantly shifting line, of course.
Those Duke and Duchess chairs are just too sloppy. There's nothing elegant or efficient about them visually, though they might feel very good to sit in!
That post about the Levete shelves sounded snarkier than I meant. And I've been captivated by them still since I saw them, trying to work out a very primal response I had to them, which I haven't quite done.
I think it has to do with them being something that makes blurry that line of function and art. I collect ceramics, and while they are all at least nominally functional (cups and vases, for example), they really aren't intended to be functional - they are sculptural pieces with function as a topic, essentially. And I think that's what those corner shelves are too. I can't imagine using them functionally, though one certainly could, just as I would never serve pretzels in my Richard DeVore bowl, though I certainly could!
So now I'm thinking I want the shelves in my house, and I would put the DeVore on them, as an assembly of things that aren't really supposed to do what they "say" they are.
In any case, I'm captivated by them and they have me pondering on form and function these last several hours, so that means they actually are successful as art, no?
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