In honor of the 125th anniversary of the Bernhardt furniture company, several designers have produced new chairs. Ross Lovegrove’s Anne chair, named for the company founder, is a real surprise. Lovegrove produced his iconic Go stacking chair, of magnesium/aluminum, for Bernhardt This walnut chair is radically different. It’s based on the American courthouse chair—a perhaps surprising inspiration for the Welsh born Lovegrove but a solid, democratic form based on the Windsor chair. The courthouse chair is to be found in many classic films think the spirit of Gregory Peck in To Kill a Mockingbird.
windsor chair | 1940s
Lovegrove’s take on it is a smart exploration of traditional wood, from someone who has spend more time with plywood, polycarbonate or magnesium. The chair is built by both traditional craft work and seven axis CNC machines, he said. For the leather seat, he thought of a pair of jeans bought pre-aged: he wanted the leather to seem sat in and crushed down already. It looks more like a flopped cushion than attached seat. Lovegrove shrewdly observed that many new things are sharp and off-putting, but things that we use and feel familiar to us have been softened by use. If you know the rest of his work, the bio futuristic side if you will, then the Anne chair is witty—a comment. It suggests a mellower Lovegrove? But it also suggests Art Nouveau. [ ross lovegrove ] [ bernhardt design ]
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dirty bomb 2008 | inigo mangling-ovalle | rhona hoffman gallery | click > enlarge
Dirty Bomb, by Inigo Mangling-Ovalle, serves as an appropriate metaphor for the long anticipated Expo Chicago: a wonderfully creative and well executed effort that made a big bang for the art fair’s planners, dealers, artists, collectors patrons notables media, and friends, who attended Vernissage (preview) last night. Tony Karman conceived Expo Chicago. The vision, experience and skills of Tony and his collaborators can be seen best by visiting the exposition in person. The pier’s Festival Hall is designed by Chicago architect, Jeanne Gang.
This show focuses on modern contemporary art and design (objects) and there are 120 very elite by-invitation-only dealers. It has opened to kickoff Gallery Weekend Chicago. DesignApplause won’t make any recommendations, there’s something for everyone. We have selected “objects” found at Vernissage and we will say it again: go see and enjoy good art. The dealers would like you to buy the art so they can come back next year.
photo courtesy of studio gang architects
liquid trilobal table 2010 | ross lovegrove | cardi black box
memorias urbanas chicago | juan garaizabal | galeria alvaro alcazar
DesignApplause will be interviewing Juan Garaizabal, a Berlin-based Spanish entrepreneur and conceptual artist specializing in the creation and transformation of interactive spaces as a means of artistic communication. He’s standing by his concept conceived to repurpose a Chicago building. Stay tuned.
silent music 2012 | jaume plensa | richard gray gallery
For your information, Plensa designed Crown Fountain, the interactive public art and video sculpture in Chicago’s Millennium Park. The Catalan artist designed the fountain and executed by Krueck and Sexton Architects in July 2004. Silent Music is part of a curated show, IN/SITU, loosely meaning temporary landmarks & moving situations. Like a “pop-up? DesignApplause loves the selections of curator Michael Ned Holte as they are almost exclusively objects.
visible markers 2012 | allan mccollum | carl soloway gallery
Another metaphor. Mr. Karman and crew, “thanks”. The show runs 20 > 23 September. Tickets to Expo are $20 for one day, or $65 for a four-day pass. You can get them online or at the fair. Expo runs 11a > 7p Thursday through Saturday and noon > 6p on Sunday.
[ the objects ]
1> navy pier concept 2011 | studio gang architects
2> gray hinge 2008 | johanna unzueta | vogt gallery
3> smoking cigarette #1 1980 | tom wesselmann | galerie gmurzynska
4> revelation 1 | 2009 | al farrow | forum gallery
5> the beast with two backs 2011 theo mercer | galerie gabrielle maubrie
6> molded plastic chair 1940s | charles & ray eames | the conservation center
7> utility fencing 2012 | nazafarin lotfi | eclectic coherence
8> night watchman 2009 | tamas dezso | robert koch gallery
9> pallets 2012 | charles harlan | jtt
10> play it by trust 1986 | yoko ono | carl solway gallery
(*)11> theaster gates | kavi gupta
12> clouds knots contacts 2012 | jessica stockholder | mitchell – innes & nash
13> binary system 2012 | jesse small | nancy hoffman gallery
14> unititled | joel shipiro | galerie karsten greve ag
15> antenna with belts 2012 | heather mekkelson | artadia
16> garbage wall 2012 | gordon matte-clark | nrdc chicago
(*)17> la perla 2008 | dzine | salon 94
18> repurposed ladder 2010 | aristotle georgiades | carl hammer gallery
(*)19> dirty bomb 2008 | inigo mangling-ovalle | rhona hoffman gallery
20> navy pier complete 2012 | studio gang architects
21> ‘liquid trilobal table’ 2010 | ross lovegrove | cardi black box
22> memorias urbanas chicago juan garaizabal | galeria alvaro alcazar
(*)23> silent music 2012 | jaume plensa | richard gray gallery
24> visible markers 2012 | allan mccollum | carl soloway gallery
(*) in/situ objects
[ expo chicago ]
The inaugural Expo Chicago, The International Exposition of Contemporary/Modern Art and Design, will be presented at Navy Pier’s Festival Hall from 20>23 September, 2012. The new fair will open the international fall arts season and will establish Chicago as a preeminent art fair and cultural destination. Vernissage, an exclusive opening night preview celebration benefits the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago.[ expo chicago ]
click > enlarge
Lasvit, the visionary Czech Republic glass manufacturer, unveiled Lasvit Liquidkristal by Ross Lovegrove at Milan’s Triennale Design Museum during Salone del Mobile. Liquidkristal, a new product offering from Lasvit’s Glass Architecture Division, was on view in an installation conceived for the Triennale’s Salone d’Onore. The exhibition featured a pavilion comprised of three forms, each measuring 180 feet in diameter and 46 feet in length. Each wall surface was composed of 24 freestanding crystal panels, measuring a total of 860 feet.
Leon Jakimic, founder and CEO of Lasvit, says, “Lasvit Liquidkristal designed by Ross Lovegrove is a milestone in Lasvit´s product development. Lasvit LiquidKristal is our company’s bridge to the world of architecture, useful as a crystal partition or screen and as insulated glass units for exterior facades.”
Liquidkristal is the result of an innovative process that the designer defines as “high precision heat transfer.” Lovegrove worked with Lasvit for more than a year to create the mobile, changing surfaces, inspired by the fluid, organic forms found in nature. The company deployed its most advanced technology to produce the transparent, undulating crystal panels, which appear dynamic, changing, capable of transmuting their shapes in a futuristic kaleidoscope. Working with mathematical models, the behavior of glass was simulated under controlled thermo induction. This produced a highly informed line code, which serves as the blueprint for the production process, where highly precise temperature control imbues the glass surface with the beauty of optical effects seen in water. Working with Lovegrove, Lasvit’s research facilities, led by Tomá Kamenec, developed a special flexible mold system to capture this effect. The finished product is highly customizable, allowing large-scale pattern aggregations over multiple sheets. At the Triennale these panels formed a spatial experience where the ceiling is used for projections and reveals the digital beauty of natural observation. [ ross lovegrove ] [ lasvit ]
windsor chair | 1940s
