Future Classics, Circa 2050?
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Monica Khemsurov and Jill Singer: We were trying to think about what designs people will still be using and remembering in 20 years. Classics, the way I think about them at least, aren't always the objects that are the most groundbreaking, but are more the ones that people really want to live with." With that in mind, Khemsurov and Singer recommend Grcic's Mayday Lamp for Flos, Jason Miller's Antler Chandelier for Roll & Hill, Zero-In Table by Barber Ogersby for Established & Sons, the Bouroullec brothers' Steelwood Chair for Magis, Moooi's Dear Ingo Lamp by Ron Gilad, Lindsey Adelman's bubble chandeliers, and Oskar Zieta's Plopp Stool. -
Monica Khemsurov and Jill Singer: Lindsey Adelman's bubble chandeliers. -
Monica Khemsurov and Jill Singer: Oskar Zieta's Plopp stool for HAY. -
David Alhadeff: One of the other pieces I think has been very important that's a little different is the Matthew Hilton Light Extending Table [for De La Espada]. It's so beautiful and the physics of it are incredible. It's expensive, so it doesn't have the potential to be consumed wildly, but it's loved wildly. This could be the future Barcelona chair. -
David Alhadeff: My own take is trying to consider work that has a democratic appeal to it or defines something in the period we're living in. Jason Miller's Antler Chandelier for Roll & Hill: If there is and or was a moment called "Brooklyn design," this piece is the best example of it. -
Alexandra Lange: In a few cases, I think the designer is right but not the piece: why Jasper Morrison's Monopod chair and not the much cheaper Air Chair [for Magis, actually from 1999], an excellent example of the supernormal idea? -
Alexandra Lange: Or Morrison's Low Pad chair, which is part of the larger post-Eames constellation [Cappellini, 2002]. -
Alexandra Lange: Also Jonathan Olivares's elegant aluminum chair for Knoll, which was designed with the icons in mind. -
Erika Heet: "I think the Crinoline chair by Patricia Urquiola [B&B Italia, 2008] will always stand as an exemplification of good design from the aughts. It's ubiquitous, yes, but immediately reminds one of an explosion of strength, elegance, and diversity within design that is a hallmark of modernism today. -
Kelsey Keith: Hella Jongerius's Polder sofa for Vitra is a striking form on its own, and the pieced-together design has had a trickle-down effect on contemporary sofas since. -
Erika Heet: I'd like to mention the emerging return of the modern studio craft movement, defined by such designs as Brian Fireman's Swallowtail chair. -
Sebastian Wrong's font clock for Established & Sons symbolizes to a tee the era of design since 2000. We're living in an internet age in which typography has become a part of pop culture no longer relevated to kerning-happy designers. The Font Clock isn't terribly expensive, and it's quirky yet massively appealing.
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