Long Island Magazine, Spring 2007

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new&newly branded

@home visits the international

contemporary furniture fair by ryan witte

Thousands of interiors manufacturers assembled to show their lines, introduce new products, and do their best to dazzle visitors at an annual event. It’s the International Contemporary Furniture Fair (ICFF), and manufacturers of materials, fittings, textiles, and bathroom fixtures are all welcome to attend. I noticed several trends this year. One of them seemed to be common to a lot of new furnishings coming onto the market lately, and that’s the idea of Flexibility. In a show this large, one could notice products exploring flexibility not only in form, but also use and function, and in some cases all three. On the one hand, a single product can reach a larger potential market, but it also means the user can manipulate his/her furnishings according to whim or necessity. Filling a space with products like these, homeowners could conceivably have an entirely different room altogether the second time guests visit and not have to purchase anything new. Another trend was designers playing with the duality of twoand three-dimensionality. With the advent of sophisticated commu-

nications technology very quickly shrinking our planet come new issues for commerce. Products that can be laid flat can also be much more easily shipped to all corners of the globe. Probably the most astonishing products I saw were using new technologies in the manufacture and also their very form. It’s something of a sign of our times, when technology in design stops being just a gimmicky bell or whistle and can at last be incorporated seamlessly into new products. At the far end of the scale, new technologies can produce forms that were never even possible before and create products with uses that never existed before. On the pages to follow are a few of what I humbly consider to be some of the most exciting, beautiful, and interesting products shown at the ICFF. Keep in mind, while the products here might not always have immediately apparent aesthetic value, many were chosen because of the direction they point design in the years to come. New ideas sometimes take time to perfect.

icff

Unit #3 White suspends a soft, cuddly material, down, uselessly inside a cold, hard glass box.

products schmoducts

San Francisco’s CITIZEN:Citizen is a fascinating group of designers whose work may more closely resemble conceptual art or art objects than conventional furniture or housewares. In proper context their pieces could be amazing conversation openers. In other cases, they’re ridiculous extravagances that serve only to make a thoughtful or humorous statement about consumerism, consumption, and product value. Take their coffee tables as an example. Unit #3 Monochrome is a glass box that looks like a paint bomb exploded inside it. The duality here is probably between the sloppy mess on the inside and the smooth, clean, glossy surface of the glass on the outside. Unit #3 White is the same glass table, but filled with down. And the last one, Unit Ice, is the same table, but made out of ice, which they sell in a limited edition for $3,000. This

The Aalto Doorstop requires the destruction of one of the icons of 20th-Century design to be manufactured.

 Molded from a candlestick the designer found in his grandmother’s house, this wax version is burned down along with the candle.

Unit Ice will have to be special ordered and set up by the designers. Springtime installation is not recommended.

Unit #3 Monochrome is a coffee table that contains a paint explosion inside a clean glass surface.

one has to be set up by C:C on a custom, case-by-case basis. Their Aalto Doorstop is cast inside one of the pinnacles of 20thCentury design, the Savoy vase by Alvar Aalto. Unfortunately, in order to remove the cast cement from the vase, the vase has to be completely destroyed. Something tells me they’re not using original vases from 1936, but even replicas of them go for around $110. Making a similar statement about consumption and value are their candles. These consist of a classic candlestick and candle, all made of wax but sold for $72. The manufacture of these pieces is somewhat intensive, but the price makes this interesting. At over four times the price of a typical candle, you’re buying a fairly nice candlestick only to burn it down—consume it— with the candle it’s holding. Just one more thing for the lovers that I truly thought was so romantic. Hidden Eternity is a gold ring with a single .75 karat diamond hidden on the inside. Only you and your significant other will know how much the ring is really worth. CITIZEN:Citizen | 415.695.7748 | www.citizen-citizen.com

athome channel.com

spring 2007 @homeLI | 73


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