Stool 01 and Chair 01 by Daphna Laurens

In my pursuit of writing more in-depth articles on design and other subjects relating to that matter, you may see less frequent postings here of a trivial nature. Alongside personal projects that I’m trying to conquer in my spare time it makes sense to think slightly more complex and provide you with some content that’s ultimately unique and inspiring, but this would of course involve more time and research. Wire chair models are my latest exploit as this seems like the best method of sketching in reality, it’s surprisingly easy to manipulate in a freeform way and achieve interesting designs. Maybe I’ll be able to implement this in a architectural way in the future, applying it to buildings and other structural shapes for ideas sake.

One thing I’m very much inspired by is the psychological effect that objects have on our lives, I’ve jotted down a few ideas that I’ll pursue at a later date on the blog regarding this category. One was something coined ‘Design without thought’, an orientation in which items are used subconsciously, without the human being aware. This could be a fallen tree being used as a piece of furniture, or a train window being used as a mirror, there’s a multitude of situations where this happens. In fact, it occurs all the time in my daily life and I’ve only just started realising it to a greater degree, it’s funny what your brain can do when you tune it to a concept or ideal. Anyway, as I’ll be talking about this at a later date I’ll leave you all to ponder the idea.

For now we get to browse over some beautiful furniture by Daphna Laurens, run by Daphna Isaacs Burggraaf and Laurens Manders in the Netherlands. Although this project took place late last year I thought it was timeless and had some surprisingly nice qualities, plus it’s the perfect introduction to the independently run company who’re working on some fantastic objects with functionality and form in mind. These chairs were made as part of Vienna design week where Daphna Laurens worked with Wittmann, originally a saddlery with its headquarters being located in Etsdorf. They’re now upholstery furniture specialists and have an expertise in the field of leather processing, which left Daphna Laurens to collaborate with Wittmann on the shaping of the final two pieces.

Although the stool is quite fascinating in itself my main item of interest was the chair, which features quite a simplistic shape, very grid like to be honest. For some reason this piece reminded me of Le Corbusier and I can’t put my finger on why, maybe because of the form that’s quite structured and is also very fluid and free. The back of the seat almost pops outwards which leaves a free form space in-between your body and the chair itself, giving it a quirky character like a musical note and lets light through it like a sculpture. Hopefully you’ll admire these photos above and below and you’ll go on over to their website, if you’re anything like me you’ll be itching to get your pencil and paper out to start sketching ideas down. Enjoy.

www.daphnaisaacs.nl