Architect Yi-Hsiu Yeh founded Yeh Design Lab to create a link between architecture and fashion. She explores the role of wearable objects — bags, jewelry, hats, and footwear — as message carrying media and investigates their relationship with the human form. The Lab is also interested in combining advanced technology with traditional fabrication. Here, Yi-Hsiu discusses working from home, being a working parent, and what drives and inspires her designs. Read more
Sizeable and sculptural, Konstantin Grcic’s Medici Chair is a love song to wood — the raw material, the woodworking process, and the craftsmen who transform the material into something both beautiful and useful. Grcic, who first trained as a cabinet-maker, found inspiration for the piece on the factory floor of manufacturer Mattiazzi, where traditional woodworking techniques meet the newest digital production technologies. His approach from the start: use only three-quarter-inch planks throughout — a reminder of the beginning of the production process, when a tree trunk is cut into slices. The result is a visible, easy-to-read structure that uniquely expresses the distinct characteristics of wood.
A contemporary interpretation of the classic Adirondack chair, the outdoor version of this semi-reclined design uses thermo-oiled ash, a finish that employs a new process of heat-treating and hand-oiling to seal the wood and keep it moisture-resistant. Get it just in time for the new spring season at the Herman Miller store.
Your work, craft, and creativity – they’re all fueled by many things, not the least of which is time to relax, recharge, and play. With that in mind, here’s hoping that today’s holiday (at least for those of us in the U.S.) is a productive one.
Last night the Luminaire Lab Showroom played host to the Eames Aluminum Group’s outdoor series of chairs and tables which we launched at ICFF in May. Owner Nasir Kassamali spotted the pieces at the fair and was passionate about including them in his new second story addition to the showroom that for the duration of Art Basel is devoted to all things outdoors.
Above: The Eames Aluminum Group outdoor pieces, Konstantin Grcic’s Corian hearts for the Design Love exhibition and auction, Andree Putman’s Corian sail boat bowl and an illuminated Luminaire.
Also on display is the Design Love exhibition – a collaboration between DuPont, Intramuros magazine and well known designers including Ingo Maurer, Andree Putman, Jean-Marie Massaud, Patricia Urquiola and Konstantin Grcic (whose wonderful Chair One and Stool One are part of the Herman Miller Collection and grace the halls of Art Basel). The works are all in Corian and are exhibited together for the first time at Luminaire. You can bid for them in an online auction here until December 3. Sales will benefit the Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Miami.
Photo credit: The image above of the Luminaire sign is from Worldredeye – check out their site for some great coverage of Design Miami.
This is the first in a series of posts on the designers we’ve welcomed into the Herman Miller family through our new relationship with Magis. Konstantin Grcic, who is based in Munich, is the designer behind the beautifully faceted Chair_One – a piece that now sits in museum collections all over the world.
You’ll find a slideshow of Grcic’s designs over on Discover. Below is an interview done by Crane TV (a beautifully edited online video-magazine) when Grcic won Design Miami’s Designer of the Year award last year. In the interview Grcic talks about designing the iconic Chair_One. It offers a great insight into his process – and his studio which is filled to the brim with prototypes of his work.
For more on his Munich workspace check out Dwell’s excellent slideshow, written by Sally McGrane and shot by Oliver Mark. The portrait above is from the slideshow.
