All Photos By Gail Worley
One of my favorite contemporary furniture designers is Chris Schanck, and I always look forward to seeing his latest pieces when I attend The Salon Art + Design show each fall. Schanck’s work embraces the tension between dilapidation and opulence, asking us to find unconventional beauty in the imperfect. His contribution to this year’s fair was the Stuffed Shell Chair in a copper finish. Let’s take a closer look at this beauty.
Schanck’s design efforts deviate from the mass-produced, instead reviving mundane materials by transforming them into unique objects of uncommon luxury. He is best known for his ongoing Alufoil series, in which industrial and discarded materials are sculpted, covered in aluminum foil, and then sealed with resin; a process which applies also to his Shell series of chairs. In contrast to its copper-colored industrial looking frame and base, this chair features a luxurious mohair velvet upholstery in a complementary soft coppery-peach hue.
Stuffed Shell Chair Installation View
The designer explains, “My works exist on a spectrum: on the one end they are practical and functional, and on the other they are aspirational and speculative – blend of reality and fantasy. Imagine a child’s bed that is shaped like a rocket or automobile. The practical function of that bed takes the form of a fantasy. We understand that you can’t start the bed and fly away, but in the child it inspires the idea of speed and exploration. My work functions a lot like that bed,” says Schanck.
Finish Detail
Photographed in the Friedman Benda Booth at the 2021 Salon Art + Design in NYC. The Stuffed Shell Chair is part of Limited Edition run of two pieces. You can contact the gallery via This Link for pricing and availability.
