sylvain willenz – DesignApplause

Top picks. Design miami/ basel 2013.

May 31, 2013

design miami/ basel’s new herzog & de meuron designed home

Collectors, museum representatives, designers, architects and critics select their favorite work from [ Design Miami/ Basel ] 2013’s gallery program

Growth Chair | Mathias Bengtsson | Galerie Maria Wettergren | casted bronze 2012

“Growth Chair is arguably the most ambitious example yet attempted using a ‘digital seed’ that, guided by the designer’s protocols, grows wild in a virtual world.” ~Murray Moss / Principal, Moss Bureau

Wood Fossil Table 01 | Nucleo | Gabrielle Ammann // Gallery | wood and epoxy resin 2012

“As a kid, I collected all kinds of things cast in resin. Later, when I studied at the Cooper Union in New York, I cast my architectural models in resin, and now I am truely fascinated to see this conservation and display technique applied to furniture on a larger scale. It´s the real thing, and yet it holds back from us. It is sentimental. It feels as if it’s from a different time, and yet demands state of the art care and extreme technological control in the production process.” ~ Jürgen Mayer / Architect, J. Mayer H.

Ribbon Chair | Pierre Paulin | Jousse Entreprise | steel-foam & fabric 1966

“I have always loved the ribbon chair for its fluid qualities. To me, it has a great sense of humor. It almost looks like a smiling face.”~Vicente Wolf / Interior Designer

Writing Desk | Finn Juhl | Dansk Møbelkunst Gallery | rosewood, gunmetal & brass 1953

“The writing desk that Finn Juhl designed in 1953 consists of different elements: a drop-leaf made of rosewood, a metal tube supporting structure and a suspended four drawer cabinet. The different elements are clearly legible; Juhl broke with monumental gestures and the idea of material unity as well. Juhl’s writing desk is less organic than other danish design pieces of this time; he succeeded in blending international and danish tendencies. For me the writing desk is one of the most striking and convincing examples of modern design.” ~Hubertus Adam / Director, S AM – Schweizerisches Architekturmuseum

Collectors, museum representatives, designers, architects and critics select their favorite work from Design Miami/ Basel 2013’s gallery program.
Console & Mural | Alberto Giacometti | Galerie Jacques Lacoste | carved marble 1939

“Giacometti’s work in marble is an inspiration to the forms and shapes that can be abstracted from such a material. It allows for the imagination to go beyond what we see.” ~Juan Montoya / Interior Designer

Pair of chairs | Eileen Gray | Galerie Jacques Lacoste | chromium-plated tubular steel frames & leather ca. 1930

“My choice of two elegant chairs designed in the ’30’s by the great Eileen Gray, might have something to do with seeing her recent retrospective exhibition at the Centre Pompidou in Paris. Artist, designer, architect, Eileen Gray was an anti-conformist and something of a jack-of-all-trades and I was bowled over by her diverse creativity. She was one of a rare breed of outstanding self-made women of her day, considered avant-garde and remarkable for breaking into a male dominated world. Most famous for her iconic lacquer tiled screens and carpets that resemble abstract canvases, even in her mid ’90’s, Miss Gray had an insatiable curiosity and she continue to work exploring and experimenting with new materials when the source of lacquer from China and Japan became scarce. The chromium-plated tubular steel and leather chairs I have selected, are restrained and almost austere. There is no showy flamboyance in their design. Rather a geometric simplicity and presence that has endured the passage of time.” ~Janice Blackburn / Curator and Journalist

Block containers | Sylvain Willenz | Victor Hunt Designart Dealer | cast glass 2012

“I find these to be extraordinary for their simplicity of form. The modern geometric shapes are versatile and add a pop of color to any interior” ~Alexandra Champalimaud / Interior Designer

Maison des Jours Meilleurs | Jean Prouvé | Galerie Patrick Seguin | aluminum & wood 1956

“My favorite of many favorites is the Maison des Jours Meilleurs from Jean Prouvé at Seguin. I love it and would be happy to move in immediately. After all, every day living in it promises to be one of ‘my jours meilleurs’.” ~Sam Keller / Director, Fondation Beyeler

1050 lamp | Gino Sarfatti | Galleria O. | aluminum & polished brass 1951

“The Gino Sarfatti 1050 Lamp looks like a casual constellation of different as found objects: the strange sculptured basement, the yellow spot and the pink round element on the top. These happy fellows form together an ambiguous and ironic presence in the room. It is static but at the same time it looks like it is going to move. It creates a new spatial perception oscillating between balance and instability. Looking at this Lamp you may find yourself wondering if something is wrong about it. There´s no answer. And this doubt makes it perfect.” ~Simona Malvezzi / Architect, Kühn Malvezzi

Ironing board coffee table | Greta Magnusson Grossman | R 20th Century | wood & brass 1952

“I have always been intrigued with designs created in the mid twentieth century. Equally, I enjoy the fact that this particular piece of furniture has drawn its inspiration from an utilitarian object of the everyday life. For me, it is timeless and poetic – it also possesses a sense of unassuming simplicity and is genuinely functional.” ~Andre Fu / Interior Designer, AFSO

[ Design Miami/ Basel ]

Folk rug by sylvain willenz for chevalier edition.

Jul 18, 2012

click > enlarge

One year after he got his Masters in Design Products at the Royal College of Art in London in 2001, Sylvain Willenz opened his own design office in his hometown of Brussels. In the past eight years he’s worked with brands like Cappellini, Established & Sons, Hay and Tamawa, and has won a handful of awards, including two Red Dot Best of the Best Product Design Awards for his work with Freecom Mobile Drive.

What I particularly like about Willenz’s work is that even when it’s at its most technical it remains approachable, never intimidating. The simple, minimal forms and bright elementary colors are a friendly callback to the Bauhaus aesthetic. In fact, one of Willenz’s more recent pieces, the Folk rug, is right at home with Bauhaus textile designer Anni Albers’ bold geometrical patterns.

Designed for Chevalier Edition, the Folk rug “was born out of the desire to organize geometric forms while exploring colors and structure. The motifs clearly evoke and play with the idea of folk or traditional rugs in a deliberately simplified manner.” Willenz, who works mostly in lighting and furniture and has never before collaborated with a manufacturer on a textile or pattern said “the opportunity to work solely on a graphic level does not occur very often in my design office and when Chevalier Edition approached me for this collaboration the assignment was certainly appealing. The exploration of two-dimensional forms became, without a doubt, most liberating and I truly enjoyed this exercise.”

The Folk rug is made from 100% handknotted wool and comes in three color variations, Light, Dark and Bright.

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