Press
Contemporary Furnishings Show Brings Out Some Zany Ideas
for Interior Spaces
Remember what the clocked ticked for and we all lived for — recess!
For adults in dire need of a little schoolyard recreation — minus the bullies — Modern Convenience introduced its Recess Furnishings at last month's International Contemporary Furniture Fair in New York City.
Upholstered in tufted and colorful vinyl, these grown-up seesaws and skateboards are designed as furniture-for-fun indoors. And to really get the concept off the ground, there's the swing set — a mobile seat for two — embellished by oversized acrylic tassels and suspended from a Plastisol-coated chain.
"I've installed them in New York City lofts," said designer Didi Dunphy.
She wasn't the only one in New York's Javits Center aiming to appeal to everyone's interior child. Delivering the perfect balance of imagination and reality was Hill Jephson Robb Studio's oversized saucer called The Temple. Simple, serene and silly, it attracted a crowd the way it did in Milan, Italy, just a month earlier. It can simulate the gentle rock and roll of a boat at sea or be used as a teeter-totter. Whatever the function, The Temple will captivate. And it's available in any color, so clashing with the classics is not a concern.
Xander Blue's exhibit, meanwhile, was glowing with the sacred aura of stained glass. The company that debuted the Cool Blue glass and stainless steel desk at last year's fair is sharing a scene this summer with Nicole Kidman in Paramount's remake of "The Stepford Wives." A bar and tables as well as ice-inspired glass panels for Sub-Zero appliances are the firm's most recent offerings.
Inspired by a more touching symbol was Pratt Institute student Kat Morrissette and her bent plywood and maple veneer lounge and ottoman.
"The idea came from those little ribbons people wear for AIDS and breast cancer," Morrissette said.
While Morrissette was launching her first career, designer Alvin Schechter was beginning Act 2. After a successful career specializing in corporate branding, interior design and packaging, he opted for furniture design rather than retirement.
"This is what I've always wanted to do, and now I have a chance," said the energetic 70-year-old.
Hoping to infuse the same personality in furniture that he once projected on products, Schechter debuted his SUSI occasional tables.
They have a certain Atomic Age aura, with rock maple tripod bases and a high-gloss automotive finish in hues he calls Shrimp, Sunkist, Prozac and Anthracite. His other tables are less cosmic, utilizing wood inlays ranging from dark to light.
Across the material spectrum and the convention center space was 3Form, a manufacturer of high-performance resin products. This year, the company debuted a furniture collection using the Varia Ecoresin system and a French design team. The results were aesthetically impressive. The Mucci table, with sleek steel legs and bamboo grass imbedded in its resin top, was just one variation on a system capable of endless colors and patterns.
3Form's Pratt lounge chair was so sculptural — with a felt mat and rolled headrest supported by a clear, contoured body and metal frame — its aptitude for comfort was almost ignored.
Exhibitor Christopher Douglas was a ringside favorite with his Knock-Down/Drag-Out line for Material Furniture. A rock musician turned designer, he may have had roadies in mind when he came up with the idea for his collapsible plywood furniture. New for '04 are the Autopilot workstation, chair and bench, all with his signature curvilinear styling.
Perfect for portable lifestyles, the desk's work surface is a laminate available in white, ice blue, citron or tangerine. The Flipper screen/shelving unit made a big splash when it debuted last summer because of its dual function providing display space and privacy.
When more than a screen is required for creating personal space, Kasane's mobile lounge may be the perfect solution. It's a contained living area with a square wood floor and tent-like roof, supported by a steel structure on wheels. Blinds move up and down to let in the light or completely cut off an increasingly congested world. It's available through Inside Base.
Private enclosures like this for indoor and outdoor use popped up elsewhere, too. Inflate's Office in a Bucket, an inflatable space that can be folded into a bucket for transportation, demonstrated how modern technology can cocoon as well as connect people. Each unit can be custom-designed for individual purposes.
Taking the modular movement a few steps further was FutureShack at the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum (the former home of Andrew Carnegie). This ingenious housing concept — created from a recycled shipping container by Australian architect Sean Godsell — had the curious examining its potential.
FutureShack is equipped inside with hide-away beds, a drop-down table, storage space, sink, shower and toilet. The unit, which aspires to offer shelter for people left homeless due to natural disasters and war around the globe, will be on exhibit in the Arthur Ross Terrace and Garden through Oct. 10. This is the first time it's been seen outside Australia.
