Imagine an Office Without People

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Let’s be honest. For a time, you might enjoy the quiet and manage to get lot of work done. But after awhile, your work might start to suffer from a lack of collaboration—the unique human ability to turn connection, cooperation, and ideation into tangible products and solutions.

A recent outdoor installation by Montreal artist Nicolas Baier explores the concept of a workplace devoid of humans. The piece, on display in front of Place Ville-Marie in Montreal, is housed in one-sided glass and features ten Eames Aluminum Group Chairs surrounding a conference table—all rendered inert by reflective nickel. Baier encases the stereotypical artifacts of a meeting—a water bottle, a coffee cup, a pair of glasses—in mirrors.

You may wonder how such a lifeless sculpture commemorates the anniversary of a community icon like Place Ville-Marie, a place populated by people for the past fifty years. But Baier’s piece achieves just this; it reminds us just how important human connection is.

Does Your Office Reflect You?

What if someone sculpted the objects in your office in nickel, turning everything into a mirror? What would the scene say about you, your work, and your world? Nicolas Baier’s “Vanitas,” inspired by the artist’s own office, poses these questions and more.

The installation is like a fun house hall of mirrors eerily devoid of human reflections. Baier houses the sculpture in one-way glass and covers the objects—a computer, a tangle of chords, an Eames Aluminum Group Chair—in mirrors. You can look at the installation and the objects within as you would an exhibit in a zoo, but you cannot see your own reflection.

The mirrors in Baier’s office may not reflect, but they do cast light on a compelling truth. Whether you are an artist, an architect, a designer, or an engineer, your office tells a story about who you are and the way you work.

Eames Aluminum Group Goes Outside and Wins at ICFF

It isn’t every day a product introduced 53 years ago wins an award. But that’s the case with the Eames Aluminum Group. Its new version, with fabrics and finishes ready for the outdoors, landed the 2011 ICFF Editors Awards in the Outdoor Furniture category. A classic originally introduced in 1958 has returned to its original intent.

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How to Give a Classic Design a Little Lift

There are many definitions of a classic. The Eames Aluminum Group, the 1958 creation of Charles and Ray Eames, meets all of them, including the ability to take a bit of tinkering in stride. In this case, it’s the addition of a pneumatic height adjustment.
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