Tag Archives: eye on design

Design and Innovation

Eye On Design: Botanical Sofa and Side Table By Azuma Makoto

Leave a comment

Botanical Sofa and Side Table
All Photos By Gail

Chamber home design boutique and gallery on West 23rd Street is currently hosting a selection of new creations from botanically-minded Japanese artist Azuma Makoto. We especially love this bean-shaped Sofa and Table set covered in vibrant green AstroTurf! Talk about successfully bringing nature indoors!

Botanical Side Table
Botanical Side Table

Botanical Sofa
Botanical Sofa

Each piece has what looks to us like a single, sprouted Leek bulb accent. This makes more sense when you see some of the other objects designed by Makoto, such as an array of crystal glass boxes shaped like seeds, sprouted bulbs suspended in acrylic cubes, and a tabletop collection of fungi dipped in precious metals, all of which are available in the boutique through April 30th, 2016.

Botanical Sofa Detail

Azuma Makoto Signage

Chamber is Located at 515 West 23rd Street, in the Chelsea Gallery District.

Design and Innovation

Eye On Design: Raymond Loewy, Lawn Chef Portable Grill

Leave a comment

Lawn Chef Portable Grill
Photos By Gail

This week we are introducing a new, reoccurring feature, Eye on Design, with  American Industrial Design Legend Raymond Loewy (1893 – 1986). Loewy was a French-born American industrial designer who achieved fame for the magnitude of his design efforts across a variety of industries.
Continue reading Eye On Design: Raymond Loewy, Lawn Chef Portable Grill →

Design and Innovation

Extruded Aluminum Bench

Leave a comment

Bench Front View
Billet 1: Extrusion 1 Bench, 2009 (All Photos By Gail)

Can you squeeze a chair out of a machine, the way you squeeze toothpaste out of  a tube? Extruded aluminum, commonly used for double-glazed window frame systems, is made by squeezing heated metal through a shaped hole, or die. Intrigued by the warped lengths that occur during this process, the studio sought to make seating, formed in single extrusions, that makes imperfection part of the design.

Bench Right Side View
Bench Viewed from its Right Side

The Heatherwick team worked with an Asian factory whose extrusion machine, used to make aerospace-industry components, can exert 11,000 tons of pressure. The result is a series of seats in which straight, clean lengths contrast beautifully with raw, disfigured ends.

Bench Left Side View
Bench Viewed from its Left Side

This electroless-nickel-plated, aluminum bench was designed by Thomas Heatherwick in collaboration with contemporary art gallery Haunch of Venison.

Bench Rear View
Extrusion Bench, Rear View

Photographed in the Cooper Hewitt Museum in New York City.

Design and Innovation

Eye On Design: Moss Lamp By Gaetano Pesce

Leave a comment

Moss Lamp
All Photos By Gail

This Moss Lamp (1999) exemplifies designer Gaetano Pesce’s use of industrial production techniques and materials to produce unique objects. Here, he pours silicone in thread-like trails to achieve a textured and translucent sphere that casts a soft glow through irregular gaps and varied thicknesses. The end result is dictated by the behavior of the material.

Moss Lamp Display

Design and Innovation

Eye On Design: Vermelha Chair By The Campana Brothers

Leave a comment

Vermelha Chair
All Photos By Gail

For the famed furniture designers, brothers Fernando and Humberto Campana, startling materials are a hallmark of their design practice. Often evoking the rich street-market culture of their native Brazil, they utilize everyday elements in unexpected ways, such as this looped red cord for the opulent pile upholstery of this Vermelha (Red) chair (2007). Continue reading Eye On Design: Vermelha Chair By The Campana Brothers →