An appreciation for the built environment comes at the time when we actually start to enjoy wandering around department stores, not to looking at clothes or the latest smart gadgets, but to get a gander at the furniture and appliances on sale. There was a day when you thought looking at lampshades exceedingly dull, but now it allures you: why did you think that furniture shopping was that big a bore for so many years, when it’s basically shopping to accessorize the interior of the house? What could be more fun than that?
We are surrounded by design every day. Design makes the world go round, and it’s thanks to a few select designers that we are able to live in a built environment of beauty and, most importantly, sustainability.
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How long did you keep that side table from Target after college? Another year? Maybe two? How long was it before it started to tilt to one side? Was it the lamp that finally made it collapse, or the glass of water? Replacing furniture every couple of years is exceedingly wasteful, especially when it’s made of unrecyclable materials. I know that I personally cringe every time I see a piece of furniture sitting curbside by the dumpster. Sure, I can save it, but how do I know it doesn’t have bed bugs? This is why it’s necessary to invest in good, solid, well-built furniture when you can. Think the price tag is too steep? What’s a $1,000 sofa compared to tens of thousands in fumigation costs?
Do you want your home to look chic, run sustainably and feel comfy? Here are three furniture designers who have made this all possible through just one design.
Hella Jongerius
Hella doesn’t mince words when she discusses design. In an interview with Design Indaba in 2015, Hella expressed her distaste with today’s designs, believing that the design industry has “lost touch” with the 21st century’s social and cultural values. “There’s too much shit design, too much shopping without thought. Designers have a responsibility here. I am calling for a new holistic approach to design.” Hella goes on to argue that the design industry has become enamored with generating profit versus quality products. She has made it her life’s work to combat the greed of the design industry with designs that will help and reinvigorate public opinion about design.
Founding the Jongeriuslab studio in 1993, Hella worked to create and evolve design projects that would transform the contemporary living room. After becoming the Art Director of color and materials with the illustrious design firm Vitra, Hella created two exquisite furniture pieces (the East River Chair and Polder Sofa) that have captured design enthusiasts and made her a household name. Using prefab materials and taking a page or two out of her predecessors’ playbook, Hella has created long-lasting and much sought-after at-home designs.
Jasper Morrison
Morrison has made much success of his craft by using advanced technology (similar to the late and great Charles and Ray Eames) to develop and produce mass-manufactured products made out of prefabricated materials to get them into households everywhere. A widely successful industrial designer, Morrison learned early in his career that “good design” requires a responsible plan with forethought and originality. Morrison’s Basel Chair reinvigorated the wood chair and his Place Sofa, with its modular design and large, voluminous cushions that turned the standard living room sofa into a piece of sculptural artistry. In designing products with straight lines, no frills and only using pops of color, Morrison created a line of furniture that would and could be kept in living rooms everywhere for decades.
Florence Knoll Bassett
Learning design skills and tools of the trade under Eero Saarinen, Florence Knoll Bassett is most famous for her “total design” philosophy. Florence believes that the entire built environment, from architecture and objects to textiles and graphics was related to the other. Florence created a furniture system that promoted designers’ products and gave them credit, not typical to do in the mid-20th century.
After her husband’s death, Florence created the Knoll Furniture Company and worked with design greats such as Eero Saarinen and Mies Van der Rohhe. Florence recognized that you cannot separate exterior and interior space, and for there to be unification between the two, design had to show it. Florence’s Two-Seater sofa shows the power of strong lines and bold color. For having started her work in the late 1930s, the fact that her designs are still so widely appreciated and referenced demonstrates their lasting effects on product design.
If you’re going to spend your money, spend it well. You can buy a million Target side tables, but you can (and will) only buy one Hella, Jasper or Florence piece.
