Let's sit on it

In the design world, chairs help in breakthrough discoveries. They are the "lab" where materials, colors and technology are tested out.

It all started when, Michael Thonet  a German-Austrian cabinet maker had the breakthrough idea of bending wood slats into what we now know as the Thonet Chair (also know as  No. 14 chair). By creating a specific mold and means of production, Thonet opened up the way for the mass production of chairs and furniture.  

Since then the marriage between designers, architects, craftsmen, and chairs has borne fruitful, if sometimes wacky, products. 

The history of the chair can be traced back to ancient Egypt, where the king would be raised above the people, on a non-ergonomcly suited chair (it was about 9" above the floor, for reference our chairs are about 17"-18"above the floor). Until the 16th century sitting on a chair represented power of a leader over their people.

Only at the start of the 20th Century, chairs become more than a functional place to rest. New materials (plastic, aluminum just to name a few) which were discovered and used during the 2 world wars, allowed for unconventional forms to be manufactured. I would not be surprised if at some point the technology that goes into chair manufacturing becomes the building blocks of future buildings, and homes.

Today the amount of detail and mechanics that go into a good office chair are mind blowing. When we sit on the "wrong" chair we immediately feel uncomfortable. 

Chairs in big commercials spaces can create rhythm, structure, and greatly impact a space. Using a bright color can spruce up a dated interior. 

Sometimes just mixing different chair designs, is a fun way to change up a space. Chairs are a great way to provide for a methodic pause in space, not just to sit on but also to create new lines of vision or a different point of a view of a space. A chair located in the right spot can at times make THAT little extra change you are looking for in a space. 

So next time you are looking into changing things a bit up in your space, just go and sit on a chair. 

What's your Story?

Watching the Grammys last night I suddenly remembered a dream of mine. Growing up in the MTV era (when they actually played music clips), I had my heart set on creating music clips of my own. Something about telling a visual story in 3 minutes was very appealing to me. That, and A-ha's "Take on me" creative music clip.

In a way, being a designer, I am living up to that dream. I tell visual stories in the spaces I create, except, I don't have 3 minutes to tell it, I'm on the tighter one tenths of a second end of the time frame.

visual story boards help people envision their new spaces

They say first impressions are lasting. This idiom, true to meeting people, is true to spaces and even more so in commercial spaces. Just take a walk at any high street or busy shopping mall and look at store front designs.

Many office spaces miss the opportunity of creating that good first impression. Or what we designers like calling - That Wow moment.

Which brings me back to the Grammys (which I felt did not deliver anything new or exciting this year). There has to be a story, some sort, of a narrative. While it's common to have TV programs scripted down to the shoe laces. Many spaces lack that type of attention to detail.

In office spaces companies need to use this opportunity to further ingrain their corporate brand, not just on their web sites and logos, but also in their physical space. If employees are surrounded by a space that communicates their company's values it's easier for them to feel part of that company.

Any good design will start with a story, a narrative if you will. How you would like people to interact with your space and amongst themselves, will give you the start of the narrative, and like with any good novel there would be layers added to that narrative. Light, color, sound, texture, are just some of the examples of these layers.

Just communicating your story with your designer will allow for a start of a productive and successful design process.

So what is your story?

A-void

They say music is the silence between sounds. For me design is the void between masses.

Tension between the elements.  By Prof. Yair Sharav

I was 14 years old when I first visited the Pompidou Center in Paris. There was a huge white on white on white triptych painting. I was annoyed, really annoyed thinking 'does this artist think we are stupid' (I had not heard about curators then). I just could not get it. I remember my dad and I having a heated discussion about this, and how absurd I found the whole thing. It was emotional for me, it tested my definitions of what I had thought was art. But you know what - this led me to define art for myself. This mind bender has done it. From the birth of the impressionist art to video game animation design, human minds have been visually tested. We tend to take this for granted and have come to expect to be wowed every single time. So much so that I fear we suffer from visual pollution.

That is why I love voids, they allow unique elements to shine. Voids create visual tensions and upsets that surprise us when we don't expect it. They mute the visual noise.

They are the silence between the sounds.

This weekend I went to see The Cut-Outs exhibition by Henri Matisse. I heard so many snickered remarks by self proclaimed 'artistic' intelligent people ("oh my nephew can cut better than that" is one example).

I was again upset in a museum.

I have to admit, at first, I wasn't blown away by the exhibition. There were a million people milling around, it felt like people had their NYC 'to-do' list to fill, and after 30 years of going in and out of modern art exhibitions the novelty wears off. BUT like in a good yoga sun salutation, I paused, noticed and picked one thing to focus on. It was the voids between the cut-outs. I was suddenly blown away, the tension between lines and crocked pieces of paper seemed never ending, presenting so many new perspectives. Next time you look at your living room furniture and knick-knacks, try and see how much void you can put between them and if it changes your perspective.