Vintage Eames Lounge Chairs and Ottomans Get Maharam Makeovers for Moss.

Three unique vintage Eames lounge chairs and ottomans are being offered as one-offs by New York's Moss Gallery. Dutch designer Hella Jongerius and Moss take the 20th century icon and re-interpret these now 'classic' and ubiquitous symbols of Modernism as part of a one-off collection of special upholstered pieces they are collaborating on with Maharam. Over time, Moss hope to create an expanding dialogue between Maharam's contemporary textiles and strong iconic works from Moss' collective object-history.


above: The Eames Lounge Chair and Ottoman is part of the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art, New York.

These rare, vintage Eames lounge chairs and ottomans are produced in Brazilian rosewood veneers, the original wood chosen by Charles and Ray Eames for the iconic chair when it was put into production in 1956. In 1992, Herman Miller ceased producing the chair in Brazilian rosewood due to a worldwide embargo on the endangered species.



above:
designers - Charles Eames and Ray Eames
design year - 1956
manufacturer - Herman Miller, USA
materials - Brazilian rosewood; aluminium; upholstered with Maharam Repeat Dot fabric (55% Cotton; 24% Polyester, 21% Rayon)

The third is another vintage Eames lounge chair and ottoman made with Brazilian rosewood and aluminium. Moss has upholstered this special chair and ottoman in 'Voyage' fabric, a rich blue wool produced by the renowned textile house Maharam. As with many of their textiles, the fabric is produced with reduced environmental impact and is 'Greenguard' certified for reduced indoor air emission.:


above:
designers -Charles Eames and Ray Eames
design year - 1956
manufacturer - Herman Miller, USA
materials - Brazilian rosewood; aluminium; upholstered with Maharam 'Voyage' (100% wool)

dimensions:
chair: 32.75" x 32.75", height: 32"
ottoman: 26" x 21.5", height: 17.25"

price for each:
$12,000.00
buy any of the three here


Maharam
Maharam, a fourth generation family-run business, celebrated its centennial in 2002. First renowned as a supplier of theatrical textiles, in the 1960s Maharam pioneered the contract textile concept, developing engineered textiles for commercial application. Though performance is an essential element of every product, Maharam continues to create innovative textiles through the exploration of pattern, material and technique.

Maharam pursues a holistic approach to design, embracing a range of disciplines as fundamental to its business philosophy; showrooms, graphics and accessories receive the same attention to detail as product design.

The Maharam Design Studio is responsible for the development of Maharam’s extensive textile collection, ranging from re-editions of enduring designs of the twentieth century’s most noted visionaries to fashion-forward concepts and materials. The Maharam Design Studio maintains a strong focus on new technologies and cultural markers, often finding inspiration beyond the textile industry, including collaborations with avant-garde industry outsiders. Conceived to foster an open dialogue across varied design disciplines, these collaborative projects also serve to introduce a fresh perspective and unexpected media into the world of textiles.

Maharam has textile designs in their collection designed by both Charles Eames (Dot Pattern) and Hella Jongerius (Repeat and Layers).




In the above book, Maharam Agenda, Maharam takes a holistic view of design, embracing a range of disciplines including architecture and interiors, furniture, fashion, accessories, graphic and digital media. The Maharam Design Studio oversees the cultivation of an extensive textile collection, ranging from re-editions of enduring designs by the twentieth century's most noted visionaries to textile-based collaborations with industry outsiders including Konstantin Grcic, Hella Jongerius, Maira Kalman, Bruce Mau, Jasper Morrison, Nike and Paul Smith, among others. The publication provides a comprehensive overview of the company's history, cultural markers and design projects. Abstracted product applications are featured through "Useless Objects," a collaboration with Jasper Morrison.

You can buy this first edition 2011 hardcover book here

Product Pick of The week: Hella Jongerius' Porcupine Desk For Kids

Designer Hella Jongerius' Porcupine Desk provides children with a perfect place to play or draw. The small wooden table contrasts appealingly with the plastic chairs and also asserts a distinctive identity with its asymmetrical shape.



The table surface shows a printed motif resembling a charm bracelet, with animal shapes and other symbols attached to a chain link circle. Some of the links in the chain are bored through the tabletop, so that colored markers supplied with the desk can be stored in the holes. Add a little imagination, and the table resembles a porcupine— which is what inspired the name.

Materials: Legs and table top made of solid hornbeam, water-based coloured lacquer, screenprinting, includes a set of high quality felt-tip pens.

Product Colors and Options: brown/light pink, 540 × 570 × 720 mm :


olive green/light blue, 540 × 570 × 720 mm :


Price is $915.00 USD
Manufactured and available through Vitra. Or at All Modern. Or at Unica Home. Or at Velocity.

Hella Jongerius site.

Vitra Editions: Encouraging Experimental Design

Above: Vitra Editions Showroom

Vitra Edition is a laboratory that provides architects and designers with the freedom to create experimental furniture objects and interior installations.

Their choices of materials, technologies, applications and formal concepts are not limited to the existing Vitra vocabulary, while they have full access to Vitra’s technical know-how. Working without the constraints of market and production logic has a liberating effect and results in surprising solutions and new ways of seeing design.


Above: Chair by Rolf Fehlbaum



Above: the Duke and Duchess by Greg Lynn


above: Cork chair and table by Jasper Morrison

Twenty years ago there was hardly a collector’s market for experimental design, and yet Vitra Edition was widely published and discussed.

Above: the very first Vitra edition, 1987

With the first Vitra Edition twenty years ago, their motivation then, as now, was to escape from the strict norms and conventions of the furniture industry.

Vitra presented seating objects by Frank Gehry, Denis Santachiara, Gaetano Pesce, Richard Artschwager, Ron Arad, Shiro Kuramata, Ettore Sottsass and Scott Burton in 1987. In the years that followed, Vitra Edition grew with contributions from Jasper Morrison, Alessandro Mendini, Borek Sipek, Philippe Starck and others.

Above: Rocs by Ronan and Erwan Bourellec

Above: Kimono chair by Tokujin Yoshioka

The process of creating the Edition was liberating for Vitra and important new designer relationships were established. In its industrial production Vitra works with some of the most talented contemporary designers and architects. Exceptionally gifted, they have antennas to perceive the shape of things to come. Still, they have to embrace the fact that industrial production is under great pressure from price, performance, production technology and regulations. Such constraints are beneficial and necessary for the development of good everyday products, but they make it difficult for experimental ideas to be realized.

Above: Mesa tables by Zaha Hadid

Above: Office Pets by Hella Jongerius

Truly radical concepts are developed with a different set of criteria from those of industrial production; they emphasize certain aspects and consciously neglect others. While these experiments may only interest a small group of people, their impact can be substantial as they provoke new sensations and insights.

Above: the Slow Car by Jurgen Bey

Above: Lo Glo by Jurgen Mayer H.

Experimental objects often do not want to solve a practical problem; they are manifestations of the designer’s and architect’s creative intelligence, an expression of a critical position, a utopian wish or a formal fantasy. Whether some of the concepts will eventually inspire the design of everyday objects remains to be seen.

Above: Chairs by Naoto Fukasawa

Above: Moreover by Ron Arad

Above: New Order Chair by Jerzey Seymour

Vitra Edition is both a process and a result. As a process it contributes to our ongoing design research; the result, instead, is a collection of extraordinary objects representing some of the most advanced positions in contemporary design.

Above: es screen by Alberto Meda

Above: Landen by Konstantin Grcic

They are made available to collectors as a limited edition. The limitation guarantees the aspect of rareness, while – as a direct consequence – the substantial costs of creation and development are distributed on a small number of objects. In this respect Vitra Edition follows a logic which is different from Vitra’s industrial production. The objects of Vitra Edition are as diverse as their authors and reflect the wide range of interests that is characteristic for a Vitra project.

Above : The Vitra Design Museum

After the initial presentation on the Vitra Campus during Art Basel 2007, the new Vitra Edition prototypes are being shown in museums and galleries worldwide and were a big hit at the 2008 Milan Furniture fair.

Special thanks to Vitra for the text and to Vitra, Dezeen and Designboom for additional images.