Exhibition: Forms by Eric Jourdan at Galerie Gosserez

After almost ten years, Eric Jourdan is back to present his design in a gallery on invitation by Marie Bérangère Gosserez. With three pieces and a series of vases, he positions his plastic and functional morphology in a striking way as he is one of the rare French designers able to do it. Once you like Jourdan, you will always like him as his design is so constant it is symbolic of designers with design as the driving force ‘At the beginning I never imagine an object or a piece of furniture as a whole, I draw a detail (an assemblage, a groove, a link…) which will lead me to another and then another … This method is linked to the practice of drawing which creates a continuous link between all these sketches. The organisation of these forms follows later. I arrange, remove, build and assemble elements which become different pieces.”

“Drawing can be liberating or imprisoning; it depends on where we stop the infernal machine which consists of covering whole notebooks. That is where your associate steps in: organising; clarifying; making you take a step back. For this exhibition the role was fulfilled by Marie-Bérangère Gosserez.”

There is no story telling with Eric Jourdan and therefore no scenarios, leaving room for pure form, like his fellow students Charpin, Bauchet, Bouroullec and no artistic sanctification of his plastic manipulation either : “Showing work in a gallery could be seen as an outlet allowing a designer to be liberated from industrial or commercial constraints, but this is not so, design does not just happen on its own without a drawing, without a gallery owner or a manufacturer…Through this exhibition, I want to show that everything will always be just exchanges, mistakes, disappointment, tension, feedback, progress and pleasure. I do not believe in the posture of artists; it is all about co-production in our profession.’

Promenade console table, Mirror Tower, Sign floor lamp, Blocks vases
Forms, by Eric Jourdan, at Galerie Gosserez

Gradation & Cube by Torafu Architects

The Japanese studio Torafu Architects designed two new versions of their Air Vase: Gradation and Cube. Those two patterns are printed on both sides of paper disks, which are cut so the user can simply pull them into the desired shape.

Gradation & Cube Air Vase, by Torafu Architects

Form Us With Love & Friends: New Designs

One had to walk through a very snowy Skeppsholmen island (Stockholm) to discover design studio Form Us With Love’s new designs, displayed at the Swedish Museum for Architecture. A worthy trip, though: On the occasion of the third “Form Us With Friends” event, designers John Löfgren, Jonas Pettersson, and Petrus Palmér introduced the Plaid dividers for Abstracta (Sweden), the Plug Lamp for Ateljé Lyktan (Sweden), the Form Pendants for Design House Stockholm (Sweden), the Bento chair & table for One Nordic Furniture (a brand new company based in Finland), as well as the Slab Vases for Cosentino Silestone (Spain).

The Bento chair and table, made of bent birch plywood, come into four parts each, that can be assembled without the need for any tools or fasteners. Form pendant glass lights, blown into geometric shapes, have been designed to be hung in group, each shape complementing the other. As for the PET foam room divider, its name (Plaid) suggests a versatile use: it can be hanged, draped or simply put on the floor and fanned out according to one’s needs. The most poetic objects of the series, the Slab vases display colorful rings of silestone (gravel, coloring and binding agents blended into quartz) piled up over a 40cm-high metal bracket, that can be assembled in an array of different combinations.

Exhibition: Form Us With Friends, Form Us With Love, Photography © Jonas Lindström

Elodie Palasse-Leroux is a Paris-based writer and journalist, the founder and editor of Sleek design.

Buddy by Bao-Nghi Droste

Buddy is an iconic piece of furniture serving as an occasional table and storage element in domestic enviroments as well as in lobby/lounge areas in public spaces. The main feature of this object is the bowl-shaped table top that is made of spun and powder-coated aluminium. Mounted on a three-legged ash wood base Buddy pictures a simple but graceful object that gathers any kind of things and gadgets needed to relocate at any time.
The base is offered in two different heights which allows the user to place Buddy next to seating areas as wall as in entrance environments where the home-coming person can empty his pockets.

Buddy, by Bao-Nghi Droste Design

Bamby Chair by Noé Duchaufour-Lawrance for Marcel By

“Bamby questions the visual perception of furniture. Face on, it’s a classical and welcoming chair with a solid wood structure firmly planted on the ground and an upholstered seat. From another viewpoint, Bamby reveals a slender and ethereal profile with tilted rear feet which suspend the seat in the air; a leaf delicately placed upon a dynamic structure.”

Bamby Chair, by Noé Duchaufour-Lawrance, for Marcel By

Sezz Collection by Christophe Pillet for Emeco

First installed at the The Sezz Hotel St. Tropez, Emeco presents a collection of designed aluminum chairs, stools and swivel chairs entitled Sezz by French designer Christophe Pillet. Known for works that meditate on notions of time as well as the esthetic and illustrative memory, Pillet brings these themes together in five pieces: A series of timeless, handmade recycled aluminum chairs and stools manufactured at the Emeco factory in Pennsylvania USA. “The Sezz chair is a little story about Emeco and what Emeco has become, the capacity of the best of the best. It is a specific story, an interpretation of the Emeco way,“ says Pillet.

“The chair is not made to look a certain way, but to make you instantly want to climb up in it and have a nap. The idea is to be timeless and create desires, using the objects in its purest form. When you collect, you choose items you would like to keep for a long time and not throw away, even when these items are not in fashion, you still love them”
- Christophe Pillet

Sezz Collection, by Christophe Pillet, for Emeco

Shrimp Cocktail Easy Chair by Jehs+Laub for COR

Thanks to its side recesses, the Shrimp Cocktail easy chair has a sharp silhouette that results from the flat cushions and a bentwood shell. Available in a choice of wood, leather or fabric.

Shrimp Cocktail Easy Chair, by Jehs+Laub, for COR

Soba Chair by Dunja Weber for PCM Design

Soba Chair is a three-dimensional stacking structure for indoor and outdoor use. The frame is made of powder-coated steel rod and the seat and backrest from taut PVC strings which makes the design light, resistant and very comfortable.

Soba Chair, by Dunja Weber , for PCM Design

Beam Table by Luis A. Arrivillaga for MDF Italia

A rectangular table with great visual impact caractherized by the rounded corner of the top joined to the solid wood table leg. The top is made of matt white Cristalplant® and legs in solid wood with a rounded and tapered trapezoidal section available in oil-treated teak, oak and wenge-stained oak.

Beam Table, by Luis A. Arrivillaga, for MDF Italia

Lean Tables by Coordination

The Designers from Coordination got inspired by traditional craftsmanship and created the Lean Tables as a result. By using a wedge, legs and a hexagonal boards from local oak form structural entities. At least three units join to become a table. For structural reasons the legs are slanted and as a result the single pieces seem to lean against each other. The shape is contemporary yet individual. The natural material complements many interior styles. The table is available in two different sizes to allow playful combinations.

Lean Tables, by Flip Sellin & Markus Dilger, Coordination, Photography by diephotodesigner.de