Noticed: The Plastic Chair Reconsidered
The ubiquitous plastic garden chair, despite its proliferation the world over, has yet to be attributed to any one designer. Perhaps because of its anonymous origins, the chair has become a frequent canvas for contemporary designers to express their creative predilections.
A couple years ago, the Swedish design group Front released an upscale version of the plastic chair (top) by simply fitting it with a leather slipcover. Since 2002, Tina Roeder, a Design Academy Eindhoven masters graduate living in Germany, has re-authored the garden chair (above)by perforating and sanding its surface. Earlier this year, the radical Dutch designer Maarten Baas collaborated with Chinese artisans to develop an exotic wooden replica of the chair for a forthcoming exhibition at Contrasts Gallery in Shanghai.
The plastic chair has not only fascinated designers, though. The contemporary sculptor Brian Jungen has dissected hundreds, transforming them into the skeletal remains of whales. Though beautiful, the sculptures serve as a moving commentary on the effects of industry on the environment. The artist Lillian Bourgeat recently had an exhibition in Paris entitled “Excès,” in which among other articles, the plastic garden chair was blown up to a hyperreal scale.
And let’s not forget the latest series by the Brazilian duo Fernando and Humberto Campana. A broad collection of objects that imagines a world in which nature and industry have melded, the Transplastic series notably included the iconic plastic garden chair (above), albeit one engulfed by woven cane.
If you’ve witnessed a creative repurposing of the plastic garden chair, send examples to houses@dwell.com or paste links in your comments below.
A couple years ago, the Swedish design group Front released an upscale version of the plastic chair (top) by simply fitting it with a leather slipcover. Since 2002, Tina Roeder, a Design Academy Eindhoven masters graduate living in Germany, has re-authored the garden chair (above)by perforating and sanding its surface. Earlier this year, the radical Dutch designer Maarten Baas collaborated with Chinese artisans to develop an exotic wooden replica of the chair for a forthcoming exhibition at Contrasts Gallery in Shanghai.
The plastic chair has not only fascinated designers, though. The contemporary sculptor Brian Jungen has dissected hundreds, transforming them into the skeletal remains of whales. Though beautiful, the sculptures serve as a moving commentary on the effects of industry on the environment. The artist Lillian Bourgeat recently had an exhibition in Paris entitled “Excès,” in which among other articles, the plastic garden chair was blown up to a hyperreal scale.
And let’s not forget the latest series by the Brazilian duo Fernando and Humberto Campana. A broad collection of objects that imagines a world in which nature and industry have melded, the Transplastic series notably included the iconic plastic garden chair (above), albeit one engulfed by woven cane.
If you’ve witnessed a creative repurposing of the plastic garden chair, send examples to houses@dwell.com or paste links in your comments below.
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