02 Art for Everyday: Furniture for Life LIVING EDGE IN PRINT EDITION O2 2015
LIVING EDGE
FURNITURE FOR LIFE
A NEW EDGE
T
he launch of its first national flagship showroom in February marked an exciting new phase for luxury architectural furniture supplier and retailer Living Edge.
With an interior by prestigious architectural firm Woods Bagot, Living Edge’s newest store is located at The Woolstores, a retail and design precinct in a part of Sydney that is becoming one of the city’s premier shopping and dining destinations. The Woolstores dates back to World War II. As its name suggests, its buildings once stored wool transported from around Australia before being shipped overseas. The original woolsheds have undergone sensitive refurbishment for re-use, retaining the original exposed timber trusses which have developed a rich patina over time. The resulting ground-floor retail space is defined by a series of single and double height pods in a palette of high-quality, tactile veneer and painted finishes. The design affords each of Living Edge’s premium design brands—including Herman Miller, Walter Knoll, E15, Louis Poulsen, BassamFellows and others—the luxury of its own distinct space, and lets visitors experience each brand in its own setting. “The design aims to deliver an engaging experience for customers. The showroom is all about immersion, creating volumes of space and providing the opportunity for visitors to properly connect with Living Edge products,” says Todd Hammond, Head of Interiors at Woods Bagot. Alongside these immersive furniture displays, customers can browse a new breadth of lighting, soft furnishings and accessories from iconic brands like Vitra alongside the most exciting newcomers to the international stage like New York’s Rich Brilliant Willing and London’s Buster + Punch. A dedicated entertaining space featuring a cast concrete bar and impressive wine wall (Libreria del Vino by Elite, To Be) provides a working showcase for Living Edge’s key hospitality products and caters for regular industry talks and events. Upstairs, a ‘Living Office’ designed by renowned global furniture firm Herman Miller demonstrates Living Edge’s commercial products in practice. For Living Edge, inspiration is encapsulated in the phrase ‘Furniture for Life’. It represents the antithesis of throw-away consumer culture— focusing on furniture with an enduring aesthetic quality, meticulous craftsmanship and an established culture of social responsibility— objects designed to be passed down through the generations.
“IT’S ALL ABOUT IMMERSION... PROVIDING THE OPPORTUNITY FOR VISITORS TO PROPERLY CONNECT WITH LIVING EDGE PRODUCTS.” – Todd Hammond, Woods Bagot
LIVING EDGE IN PRINT EDITION O2 2015
LIVING EDGE
FURNITURE FOR LIFE
E15 SELECTED
MARKING �� YEARS OF MAKING E15's celebrated BIGFOOT™ table, by founder and architect Philipp Mainzer, has been released in a special limited edition series featuring laser engraving by artist and illustrator Geoff McFetridge. The radical simplicity of the solid oak BIGFOOT™ Table has made it something of an icon for E15. Over the past two decades the German furniture maker has established a reputation for its expertise with wood in its purest form. The Anniversary Edition marks the company's 20th anniversary. Produced in a limited edition of 94, referring to the year that the original was designed, the table's underside is completely filled with lasered characters showing Bigfoot— the mythological creature of the North American forests and patron of Mainzer's design. Released concurrently, Limited Edition BIGFOOT™ DICE display a series of playful scenes created by McFetridge using the same characters. The dice take their shape and dimensions from the characteristic massive legs of the acclaimed table. Geoff McFetridge's work displays the simplicity and naivety of primitive art with a contemporary surrealist quality. Working across a variety of media, the LA-based artist works as a graphic designer, illustrator and animator for clients like Spike Jonze, The Walker Art Center, The New York Times, Sophia Coppola and Nike among others. His works are part of several museum exhibitions, including the Museum of Modern Art in Los Angeles and in the V1 Gallery in Copenhagen. The BIGFOOT™ Anniversary Edition with artwork by Geoff McFetridge forms part of E15 Selected, a series of highly individual and exquisite designs that exceed usual limitations in terms of material, shape and craftsmanship.
PROFILE |
BASSAMFELLOWS
BassamFellows was formed in 2003 when architect/designer Craig Bassam and brand strategist/creative director Scott Fellows joined forces. On the heels of successful solo ventures and with a single, shared vision in mind—to return true craftsmanship and beauty to contemporary living—the duo quickly garnered attention. As Bassam explains, “We wanted to mix the timelessness and attention to detail of the modern classics with contemporary design and blend it with honest materials, solid construction, beauty, and utility.” Fellows adds, “It’s all about merging the rationality and clarity of modernism with the warmth and texture of nature.” Perhaps it’s what they each brought to the table that makes their output so unique. Both had lived and worked in Europe, where they were influenced by the use of fine leather and wood. Raised in New York and armed with a Harvard MBA, Fellows honed his branding skills working with international powerhouses such as Bally and Salvatore Ferragamo. Bassam, who grew up in Sydney, was such a devotee of modernism that he eventually moved to New Canaan, Connecticut, where many of its architects lived and practised. He began his own design studio there in 1997. The well-balanced BassamFellows design aesthetic has resulted in such iconic pieces as the Tractor Stool, which The New York Times said, “Couldn’t be more comfortable if it were custom-made.”
PROFILE |
MORGAN SHIMELD
Sculptor Morgan Shimeld is inspired by modernist architecture and the Minimalist art movement of the ‘60s and ‘70s. His creations are the product of an intuitive, meditative process of reduction—a quest to forge a unique, abstract form that becomes dynamic through the play of light and shadow. Shimeld attributes his early interest in making objects to time spent as a youngster in his dad’s pottery studio. First trained in glass, Shimeld became drawn to bronze and steel and has since crafted a distinctive body of work known for its architectural exactitude and abstracted forms. “I feel like I’ve really found my groove with my current work. I love transforming a vision and a raw material into something refined and unique.” says Shimeld. The artist’s minimalist sculptures portray the geometric deconstruction of the built environment. They evoke a sense of timelessness and permanence that has attracted the attention of private collectors, international curators and judging panels. Shimeld has been a finalist in a number of prestigious art prizes, including Sydney’s respected Sculpture by the Sea exhibition. In the studio, Shimeld works manually and intuitively “in a meditative type process” to bring each sculpture to life. Working directly with the three-dimensional form, he often has half a dozen maquettes of sculptures in the works. “It becomes a subconscious, fluid process of adding geometric forms and subtracting to create negative spaces. I am seeking to portray a pure form of elegance, sophistication and simplicity. The more I work with my forms the more simplistic they become.” When the resolved form emerges, the technical process of production begins—finalising scale, cutting and welding wire or sheets of bronze or steel, grinding and finishing with plating, patina, polyurethane paint or powder coat. Designers Craig Bassam and Scott Fellows came across Shimeld’s work during a visit to Sydney in early 2015, and immediately recognised in his pieces a natural complement to their brand’s sensual minimalism. “The exceptional level of craft, attention to detail, and use of a timeless, high quality material gives each form a permanence that is rare in much of contemporary art,” says Scott Fellows. So impressed were the designers that they exhibited seven of Shimeld’s pieces Salone de Mobile in Milan in April. Morgan Shimeld is represented by Living Edge and a selection of works are available to view at Living Edge's Sydney showroom. For enquiries, please email art@livingedge.com.au or call 1300 132 154.
LIVING EDGE IN PRINT EDITION O2 2015
LIVING EDGE
FURNITURE FOR LIFE
THE CREATIVE SYNERGY OF
EOOS “Everything takes place somewhere between being burned and getting lost,” is how EOOS describes it design pathos. With more than 130 international design prizes to its name, the Vienna-based design studio counts among the most successful in the world. 2015 marks a 20th anniversary for EOOS, and the first large retrospective show on the design studio. Spanning all twelve areas of MAK DESIGN LAB in the designers’ native Vienna, the exhibition celebrated the studio’s multi-faceted design practice. After meeting at today’s University of Applied Arts Vienna, studio founders Martin Bergmann, Gernot Bohmann, and Harald Gruendl determined to “work like a rock band”, and have managed to leverage their creative synergies as a trio with remarkable long term success. EOOS designs arise in the field of tension between the archaic and high-tech. Dispensing with stylistic allure, EOOS stands for design beyond random mass merchandise or modish luxury goods. The designers place great value on their numerous technical patents, which demonstrate that the studio does not settle for standard solutions. Their reduced design language is valued by an impressive list of longtime clients including Alessi, Armani, adidas, Duravit, Herman Miller and Walter Knoll. EOOS considers the unique element of its design approach to be ‘Poetical Analysis’, which they regard as a design tool rather than an ideology. They explain it like this: “Rituals, intuitive images, and stories serve as the point of departure or reference for our way of working and thinking”. The philosophical discourse specific to each assignment is as important to them as the functional, ergonomic, material, technological, and aesthetic detail work. Like the studio’s output, the EOOS exhibition at the MAK runs the gamut, from the autonomous sanitation system Blue Diversion Toilet (2011), developed jointly for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation with Eawag, the Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology, to shop designs for companies like adidas and Armani to the lipstick set Bite (2011). In a central room, the Three Sixty (2008) sofa for Walter Knoll and Open Space (2011) shower stall for Duravit play to the audience in what appears to be a slow, mechanical, furniture ballet, exemplifying EOOS’s essential understanding of design as a dynamic and transformative force; spacially as well as with regard to the subject-object relationship. Sketches, photographs, functional models and prototypes give insight into EOOS’s “Poetical Analysis” approach and the various stages of their design process, such as revision, modelling, and the development of technologies. In celebration of the exhibition and the anniversary, the MAK and EOOS have published the first EOOS monograph, featuring a comprehensive catalogue of works, texts and selfpenned anecdotes by the designers.
Photography this page courtesy of MAK DESIGN LAB and EOOS
EOOS employed both handcraft and technology to achieve the alluringly refined Crosshatch Chair for Herman Miller. Parachute cords are integral to the design: pulled down, the cords create a system of internal tension and provide back support, creating the feeling of being enclosed in a comforting, protective nest.
PROFILE |
BRODIE NEILL
Tasmanian-born Brodie Neill has a distinctive signature style. It displays both his fascination with organic forms and a deep understanding of digital design and advanced manufacturing technology. Following a Bachelor of Arts degree in Fine Art at the University of Tasmania with a Masters at the Rhode Island School of Design in the US, Neill recognised early on that the designs he wanted to produce could not be achieved by hand alone. “It was a time when I had a great deal of creative freedom to test and explore ideas. I was interested in three-dimensional modelling and, as they didn’t have digital design resources, I did an animation course instead, and from that I learnt skills I still use today,” says Neill. Neill is intrigued by organic forms that have a continuous line and shape. His production processes are shaped to fit the vision of the pieces, and the advanced technologies he uses in turn inform the design. His prolific studio produces designs in a variety of scale and scope, from production pieces for international brands such as Kundalini and Riva 1920 to high-profile one-off projects for global brands such as Swarovski Crystal Palace and Alexander McQueen. His Morphie light (2006) for Italian manufacturer Kundalini gave him his first big commercial break, and the ‘e-turn’ bench followed in 2007. In 2008, Brodie's aluminium @ Chair was included in Time Magazine’s most influential designs.
In the design of Joco for Walter Knoll, EOOS plays with infinitely expanding geometric regularity. A square is circumscribed by a second square rotated 45 degrees, and finally bordered by a circle. The pattern in the table surface is created by the top view of all the interlaced squares, resulting in intricate pattern and lightplay.
Neill has produced a number of pieces that are sold in limited editions though London's The Apartment Gallery. Remix chaise longue and Reverb chair are both progressive designs that fuse material form with advanced technologies. Glacier is an elegant chaise longue entirely cast in clear glass. In 2013, Neill also founded the award-winning self-produced furniture brand Made in Ratio with the aim of bringing uncompromising ideas to life by embracing experimental and boundary-pushing processes. By utilising digital design, working alongside some of the finest craftspeople in Europe and championing time-honoured materials, Made in Ratio’s products are imbued with Neill’s spirit of innovation. Made in Ratio is available exclusively in Australia at Living Edge. This September, Neill takes his place as one of 20 of the world’s leading thinkers and practitioners in contemporary craft and design in a conference at the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV) entitled Parallels: Journey into Contemporary Making. For further information visit ngv.vic.gov.au.
To explore the functionality of the swiveling seat elements in Threesixty for Walter Knoll, (pictured at left) all EOOS meetings over a three-month period were held on a full-scale polystyrene model. Threesixty consists of two swiveling cubic elements and a bar that serves as both backrest and tray surface, offering innumerable possibilities for leaning, lying, and lounging. Glacier (2011). For more information on Neill's limited editions visit brodieneill.com.
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FURNITURE FOR LIFE
DESIGN ART: BEYOND THE PRACTICAL
LIMITED EDITION “When a person furnishes their environment, they hunt for a piece that will endure the period of their occupancy. Investing in a limited-edition piece of design means you’re placing your money in your daily routine. A design piece will take place in your space; subsequently it blends into your life and becomes one with your surroundings. The amount you pay on a well-produced piece will not be the one you toss immediately away but rather the piece you move around with and perhaps hand over to future generations.” Cyril Zammit, Fair Director of Design Days Duba
Above: Salvador Dali and Oscar Tusquets with the Mae West Lips Sofa by BD Barcelona Design Right: Remix by Brodie Neill. Opposite: The sculptural Leda table and chair series from drawings by Dali, produced by BD Barcelona Design.
From antiques to future icons, collectible design is distinguished by a rare mix of style, artistic vision, high-quality, long-lasting materials, innovation and skilled craftsmanship. At the top of the spectrum are rare or unique pieces, first editions or limited series. While these can command strong prices, spending money on such museum-worthy design is seen as an investment because the designs are likely to stay relevant, and gain in value, over years to come. Traditionally, furniture collectors have come from Europe and the US, but buyers in the Asia Pacific and emerging markets are entering the picture, says Y-Jean Mun-Delsalle of Forbes Magazine, and the potential is huge. Collectors are well-travelled, cultured, knowledgeable in design and interested in art. Buyers from the US and Europe gravitate towards vintage, classic and contemporary pieces with specific cultural or historical relevance, like Scandinavian, French or Italian designs, but Asian buyers often look to contemporary design, particularly benchmark international designers. Cappellini’s Art Director, Giulio Cappellini, explains the current boom in design. “Today, the public doesn’t see pieces of design only as museum pieces, but rather products to live with every day. Buying a nice piece of design is like buying a painting or a sculpture: it’s something to pass down.” Loïc Le Gaillard, co-founder of Carpenters Workshop Gallery in London, whose prices range from thousands of pounds to millions for contemporary design, also notes a resurgence in craftsmanship in contemporary design. “Artists and artisans are taking timetested techniques and pushing them further, whilst blurring the boundaries between art and design.” Beyond the practical, design is emerging as a more serious investment market. “Design was art’s poor cousin until Eileen Gray’s ‘Dragons’ armchair sold for $28 million at the Christie’s Yves Satin Laurent sale in February 2009,” says Lucinda Bredin, editor of Bonhams Magazine. “This completely took the market by surprise. It started a trend for collecting designers of our time hoping the values will go up.” When purchasing a piece of design for investment reasons, many design lovers take a long view, and seek the works that they will most enjoy living with. At Shapiro, modernist furniture now commands around three times the equivalents from the 18th and 19th centuries—it’s a collecting category that goes well with today’s interiors and modern paintings. Simon Andrews, head of 20th century decorative art and design at Christie’s South Kensington, London, notes that the furniture most likely to go up in value is still limited edition but adds that, increasingly, it’s about a designer’s body of work. “I think [British duo] Barber Osgerby is a very good example of an investment opportunity, especially the limited-edition Iris tables for Established & Sons,” he says. “They are versatile and are working across a large selection of applications.” While authentic originals like the Eames LCW and Louis Poulsen’s AJ light may endure for both their social context and a certain timeless aesthetic, less serious designs can also have lasting value. “There is a certain market for the flamboyant and distracting furniture,” observes Christie’s Mr. Andrews.
Fluidity is the key characteristic of Zaha Hadid's acclaimed Aqua Table for Established & Sons LIMITED. Its curvaceous uninterrupted form invites viewers to engage with it. The design is challenging, daring and an exceptional example of the work of one of the greatest talents in contemporary design.
Iris is a collection of five limited edition tables by BarberOsgerby for Established & Sons LIMITED. Each component is machined from solid aluminium and individually anodised, embedding a unique colour into the surface of the aluminium. Each of the variations has its own specific colour spectrum. Each design has been produced in a limited edition of twelve.
Xai by BD Barcelona Design is the latest addition to a collection of furniture based on the paintings of Salvador Dalí. Created from a taxidermy lamb, the side table has a circular wooden surface attached to its back and a drawer that opens from one side of its abdomen. Hooves have been replaced with decorative rococo bronze feet. The limited edition set includes 20 white lambs and a unique black edition.
For over fifty years, the figure of a black wooden bird has stood in the centre of the living room of Charles and Ray Eames’ former residence, the Eames House. Carved from alder wood, the Eames House Bird is a Vitra classic. In 2015, Vitra will release 1000 limited gold editions for collectors worldwide. The entire form of the limited edition bird is leafed in gold, with a lacquer finish providing a protective layer and giving the “plumage” a special gloss.
Established & Sons Limited Edition, BD Barcelona Design and Vitra Limited Edition Eames House Bird are available from Living Edge. For enquiries please email art@livingedge.com.au or call 1300 132 154.
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LIVING EDGE
FURNITURE FOR LIFE
THE CREATIVE SPIRIT OF ALEXANDER GIRARD While much of 20th century modernism was predicated on a strict break from tradition, Alexander Girard held an entirely different view. He saw the past as integral to the present—as a vital part of what it means to be human. In this excerpt from Alexander Girard’s 1968 essay on folk art, he discusses the value he found in handcrafts and individual expression. It was a progressive view for his time, and one that clearly resonates today. Just as our world has become increasingly commercial, global, manufactured, conversely there has been an explosion of interest in handmade items, craft, heirloom ingredients, and forgotten traditions. Girard’s ability to synthesise and bridge these disparate forces into a coherent whole is part of why his work remains so relevant today.
THE MAGIC OF A PEOPLE As human necessities and purposes change, whole worlds die— and new scenes, customs, and beautiful things are born. Yet no matter how exciting the discoveries each generation makes for itself, it is always painful to see the past vanish, taking parts of it with us. In most of us there is a tendency to try to halt time, to relive the past through the accumulation of souvenirs, to which we cling as the child to an old doll. We treasure artifacts that remind us of people we once knew and loved, and we add to our collection objects of many kinds, which we identify with a past or a way of life we would like to see perpetuated… somehow. The “handcraft” civilization is rapidly disappearing, and we delude ourselves if we think that artificial means can keep this highly individual form of expression alive as an organic part of our present society. Technology constantly changes our way of life and forms expression. Yet we can, and I firmly believe we should, preserve evidence of the past, not as a pattern for sentimental imitation, but as nourishment for the creative spirit of the present, so that we too may evolve customs and shape objects of equivalent value in our own way, in our own time, taking advantage of the many new methods and materials at our disposal. In this way we will neither ignore nor forget the spirit of individuals who have died, the spirit of a people. We will remember
them by their unique voices, which echo still out of their creations, and we will be inspired by them. The objects exhibited on these pages are part of the past. They were lovingly formed by craftsmen in that part of our hemisphere where the Iberian culture fused with the great indigenous civilization that already existed there. This fusion gave us the culture of Latin America. Today these toys and other decorative objects communicate to us the powerful spirit of an unusual and highly imaginative people. For the most part they are the expression of naïve and unsophisticated people who have lived close to the earth and created wondrous fantasies out of the simplest materials. The objects communicate directness, simplicity, and firm spiritual beliefs, as well as humour, whimsy, tragedy, and love. Wisdom and gratitude demand that we acknowledge their message, which comes to us so vividly out of the past, appealing to the children within us and in turn to our children. As we look at these enchanting toys and figures we are invited to translate their meaning into the terms of our own experience—and to attempt to create customs and forms that are just as significant, poetic, and valid. Alexander Girard
With thanks to Herman Miller Why Magazine. Excerpt from “The Magic of a People” (Viking Press, 1968). Pictures from Girard's house in Santa Fe by Sam Grawe. Right: Vitra hand-painted wooden dolls designed by Alexander Girard, available at Living Edge.
LIVING EDGE IN PRINT EDITION O2 2015
LIVING EDGE
FURNITURE FOR LIFE
THE HERMAN MILLER COLLECTION
“A permanent collection designed to meet fully the requirements for modern living”.
Drawing on George Nelson’s vision, The Herman Miller Collection offers a breadth and depth of products to furnish complete environments in a myriad of settings. A staple of architects and interior designers and a core component of the Living Edge portfolio, Herman Miller is popularly known as the source of authentic Eames® and Nelson designs, and as one of the most established specialists in premium designer residential and office furniture worldwide. The Herman Miller Collection attempts to address our continually evolving way of life. It began with classic pieces from Herman Miller’s archives, which were restored to meet the designers’ original intent and updated to meet contemporary standards of sustainability and durability. Consulting creative directors BassamFellows have played a key role in the renewal of Herman Miller’s classic heritage products. “The whole idea is to take individual iconic pieces and build collections around that.” says Bassam. “We’re curating and looking at the archives, working directly with the Eames family or the George Nelson Foundation, and recontextualising pieces for today.” Building on the archival offering, a diverse roster of today’s most talented designers was engaged to develop an equally diverse range of complementary new designs—providing a bridge between Herman Miller’s past and future. The unique quality that this brings to the Collection can be
– GEORGE NELSON, 1952
experienced in Living Edge showrooms around Australia.
LIVING EDGE IN PRINT EDITION O2 2015