STATEMENT MAKERS
An exploration into how materials can be used to make a statement within furniture design.
INTRODUCTION.
M Kaszuba, 2020. Pearson Lloyd talk on sustainability [photograph]. Stockholm furniture and lighting fair.
“There are professions more harmful than industrial design, but only a few.�(Victor Papanek). This is a quote that Pearson Lloyd used during their talk about sustainability at the furniture and lighting fair in Stockholm 2020. They went on to discuss how as designers we need to take responsibility for the products we produce, the waste they involve and the impact that they have. We must avoid purposeless design and make everything with intent. I want to focus on furniture that was made with intent to make a statement through the use of materials, whether that means showcasing a contemporary material or pointing out flaws in an industry.
USING UNCONVENTIONAL MATERIALS TO COMMENT ON SUSTAINABILITY: MINDING.
A Wolstenholm, 2020. Minding material close up [photograph]. Stockholm furniture and lighting fair.
M Kaszuba, 2020. Minding material close up [photograph]. Stockholm furniture and lighting fair.
An example of a company who make a statement about sustainability through their use of materials is Minding. Many products in their range use cork in an unusual and obvious way which encourages us to ask questions, this leads to finding out why cork is a good alternative for other materials which may have environmental implications. This range clearly comments on the variety of ways in which we could utilise cork in everyday furniture, presenting it as an attractive substitute for fabrics in upholstery, work top materials and even paper for business cards. They also have a sofa which looks like it uses regular fabric, however it is made of 98% recycled plastic bottles from the ocean, the only way you can tell that the material is made of waste is through seeking to find out about it. I think that their collection makes a statement about how we can utilise waste in a way that hardly affects the aesthetics and function of products as well as highlighting a problem with single use plastic.
A Wolstenholm, 2020. Minding material close up [photograph]. Stockholm furniture and lighting fair.
USING UNCONVENTIONAL MATERIALS TO COMMENT ON SUSTAINABILITY: KARTELL.
M Kaszuba, 2020. Kartell’s biocomponibli storage shelves [photograph]. Stockholm furniture and lighting fair.
M Kaszuba, 2020. Kartell’s AI chairs [photograph]. Stockholm furniture and lighting fair.
Kartell is another example of a company which uses materials to make a statement, they do this by creating products which look like they are made from an ordinary plastic but display and market them in a way that tells an exciting story. Kartell recreated the modular storage system called Componibili, which was originally designed by Anna Castelli Ferrieri in 1967, using a bio plastic ‘’ created from waste materials from farm production procedures that do not enter into competition with food for humans or animals.’’ (Kartell. 2020). BioComponibili maintains its classic appearance and performance. This reinforces the idea that we have the ¬¬means to create solutions to problems revolving around waste without sacrificing traditional form and functionality of products. This also applies to the AI chair as it is made from 100% recycled materials, with the slight difference that the chair has quite an unconventional form (due to being designed by artificial intelligence) this makes the product more intriguing.
M Kaszuba, 2020. Kartell’s biocomponibli storage shelves close up [photograph]. Stockholm furniture and lighting
TRADITIONAL FORM WITHIN FURNITURE STOCKHOLM DESIGN WEEK
M Kaszuba, 2020. David Designs sofa and side table [photograph]. Stockholm furniture and lighting fair.
M Kaszuba, 2020. Mattiazzi’s Leva chairs [photograph]. Stockholm furniture and lighting fair.
M Kaszuba, 2020. Matiazzi’s Cugino Stools [photograph]. Stockholm furniture and lighting fair.
Successful products often have simple and timeless forms. Consumers are used to the way products look so are more comfortable with them. Also a simple, familiar design means that a product won’t just go out of fashion, as it might if it were more eccentric. There was many great example’s of such design featured at the furniture and lighting fair in Stockholm (pictured above). Kartell’s Componibili is an example of such design and of how we can use traditional and familiar forms to shift peoples’ perceptions of unconventional materials. Many people have preconceptions of materials derived from waste as being of a lesser quality. Applying these materials to designs associated with value can help tackle this by proving that there isn’t a greatly noticeable difference in aesthetic and feel, meanwhile there is a positive impact on the environment.
Kartell 2020. Kartell’s Componibli storage shelves [photograph].
CHALLENGING OUR IDEALS AND CELEBRATING PATINA
mindthedot. (2020). mind the dot exhibition
Another company which made a statement through the use of materials is Mind the Dot. They made furniture using defected leather which otherwise would have been discarded, the pieces were still beautiful and had character. This made a statement about how much material we actually waste unnecessarily due to our strict and weird standards and how we should celebrate patina.
Pepe Heykoop. (2011). skin collection
Pepe Heykoop gets across the same message about waste leather in a very contrasting way: he has as a more drastic approach; he makes his pieces look strange which instantly causes questions to arise. This is affective way of drawing attention to an issue as it is more visually exciting and dramatic. These fascinating designs are more artworks than functional products and purely serve a purpose of commenting on the leather industry.
humade. (2020). kintsugi.
Celebrating patina is a concept that goes back centuries. The Japanese art of Kintsugi revolves around fixing broken crockery with gold, creating unique pieces which tell a story. Making “imperfections� beautiful is something that we should carry forward into modern design to try and tackle our ideas about what materials are not acceptable, like in the instance of leather. This would reduce waste and create interesting pieces with their own individual stories. This mentality also places more value on objects and encourages us to embrace the journey that they have been on and fix them when they are broken.
CHALLENGING OTHER INDUSTRIES THROUGH DESIGN
Tessa Silva. (2016). Protein.
Tessa Silva. (2016). Protein.
All of these designers make a statement about things within the design industry; however, we can also use design to communicate flaws of other industries. Tessa Silva creates provocative homeware products which challenge the dairy industry. She adapted a milk bio plastic made from surplus milk to draw attention to the mass amount of waste milk that is produced and how we fail utilise it to its full potential. A lot of her products have unusual finishes and forms which naturally evoke curiosity surrounding the material, this could lead to change in how we see the dairy industry and how we use the waste that it produces.
To conclude, I found two distinct ways in which designers make a statement using materials: some designers have more drastic methods, like Pepe Heykoop or Tessa Silva with their eccentric designs and interesting forms, whereas others have a more subtle yet effective approach, e.g. Kartell, mind the dot, minding sofa. I think the two work in different ways, more drastic designs are initially more thought provoking and draws attention to problems in a more obvious way but the more subtle approach is more practical and shows us a way in which we can change things in our life in a more realistic way. All of these designs are examples of little steps that we are taking in the right direction, whether they are highlighting problems or showing people solutions that they can adopt; they are all made with intent and are the just beginning of a long journey that will transform the design industry into one that is less harmful.