Furniture is sometimes at its best design-wise when it doesn’t take itself too seriously. Case in point: Alan Siegel’s irreverent Tongue Chair, designed in 1981. With its seat transformed into a wide-open mouth and a bright pink tongue playfully poking out, the chair turns an everyday piece of furniture into a a little piece of surrealist theater. The chair’s ‘face illusion’ is completed by a back support that forms a human nose, while two eyes can be seen along the curved upper back and armrest that continues to form the chairs front legs. Continue reading Eye On Design: Alan Siegel’s Tongue Chair→
I was saying to a friend recently that one of the unintended consequences of AI is how convincingly it can generate objects that look completely real but don’t actually exist. For someone like me, who regularly features extraordinary furniture and design objects, that presents an interesting challenge. When you see a tiger-shaped sofa or a fantastical sculptural table online, it’s becoming harder to know whether you’re looking at a genuine work of design or a clever digital fabrication. I want readers to know that every piece I feature in my Eye On Design column is something I’ve seen in person and photographed myself. Even so, I understand that in today’s world a healthy dose of skepticism is only natural. So let me assure you: this remarkable sculptural stool by Sebastian Errazuriz is absolutely real.
It is what it is: a clean-lined black stool topped with a crisp white seat. But a second look reveals its delightful secret. Suspended upside down beneath the seat is the head of a classical Greek or Roman sculpture, perfectly framed by the stool’s four legs. Suddenly, what seemed like a functional object transforms into something playful, surreal, and thought-provoking. Continue reading Eye On Design: Sebastian Errazuriz’s Antiquities Series Sculptural Stool→
Leave it to the Haas Brothers to turn a lamp into a conversation piece, which is certainly the case with Small Sloan (2016), a striking work by the duo currently on view in Uncanny Valley at the Museum of Arts and Design (MAD). Crafted from blown glass, aluminum tiles, and electrical lighting components, the piece blurs the line between functional lighting and contemporary sculpture.
At first glance, Small Sloan resembles a strange organism rising from the ocean floor. Its reflective aluminum body branches upward into graceful, elongated stems that support clusters of delicate blown-glass forms. When illuminated, the translucent glass catches and diffuses the light, casting shimmering reflections that ripple across the surrounding walls and giving the sculpture an almost otherworldly glow. Continue reading Eye On Design: The Haas Brothers’ Small Sloan Sculptural Lamp→
Tom Sachs’ Eight Foot My Way (2001) looks like a page torn from a sketchbook. Arranged in a grid of nine panels, the artwork functions as a step-by-step tutorial for drawing Hello Kitty, the beloved character created by Sanrio in 1974. Beginning with a simple red circle for her signature bow, Sachs methodically builds the character panel by panel, adding ‘wings,’ a head, whiskers, clothing, and other details until a likeness of the familiar feline mascot emerges.
While some furniture is designed to blend into a room, this table seems determined to transport you to another planet. Ennui Gently Receives Single Date in Earth’s Tiniest Maw (2023) by designer Misha Kahn is part functional object, part sculptural daydream. Constructed from steel and plastic and finished with layers of luminous automotive paint, the table appears to have drifted in from a colorful alternate universe. Its rounded tabletop resembles a floating celestial body, while the supporting forms below twist, curl, and bloom in a way that feels simultaneously organic and alien. Continue reading Eye On Design: Misha Kahn, Ennui Gently Receives Single Date in Earth’s Tiniest Maw→
