Again, I'm looking recent designs here at DA to see if they support or refute my hypothesis that a heavy modern is in vogue these days. Arne Quinze is from Belgium and appears hard at work expressing a contemporary idiom for modern furniture.
I am not entirely sure what the piece below is (it might be a stool or an ottoman), but, regardless, it perfectly exemplifies heavy modern. The red, latex, foam block is entirely about surfaces and mass, and it is mounted on a thin black panel affixed to thick black legs that turn the negative space under the block into a negative extension of the block all the way to the floor. This piece looks much heavier than it probably is.
The rest of the Belgian Mr. Quinze's work is a mixture of some massive pieces like this chair...
or remarkably lean pieces that nevertheless sit anchored to the floor, like this regrettably proportioned and probably uncomfortable lounge chair.
All heavy modern in the sense of being strongly rooted to the floor and about surfaces, even in the negative spaces, whether lean or massive in construction.
I don't think this sort of...
I don't think this sort of work respects its material very much, one of the responsibilities of being a designer is to gain a profound understanding of the materials that you work with, inflicting an inappropriate form on an object by denying what a material is capable of doing isn't too smart.
Irony or humour are best left to literature, chairs don't need to be ironic.
Sharing a similar
heritage, I should be able to say something intelligent about these pieces, and yet...
Yes it is what you call new minimalism, but so what...Being latex foam, there is nothing that prevents you from doing these things and still be "respectfull for the material". Ever since Thonet bended with so much talent a piece of compressed beechwood, I have my doubts about being respectfull of the material, so I fully accept this kind of use of latex foam...but that's hardly a quality. Maybe it just too minimalist in the sense that there is nothing left, not even an attempt to do something relevant. I neither see real talent or intelligence behind it.
I am not suggesting that Belgians should stick to making beer and chocolat, but this is hardly a contribution to the Belgian or Flemish (he is based in Ghent)design culture. Maybe some Belgian or Flemish voices on the forum could correct me.
Perhaps these plastics offer ...
Perhaps these plastics offer so much freedom that people are confused about what to do with them?
Is the pink block chair upholstered foam? I think taking something with potential and giving it none, making it mute and contradictory is sad.
This is what I mean by being respectful of material, but I know I'd find working with plastics difficult, I like constraints.
arne quinze
is to me a hype. a few years ago when his 'pouf' (the first picture) came out it was refreshing. He used foam covered with paint (an idea he stole from maarten van severen) and this in trendy fluo colors. his logo was nice; himself is a a bit like the metallica singer (he also tells the story how he was a problem child, kicked out of home, lived on the street etc; maybe possible in the states but hardly in belgium due to the social and schoolsystem). in one word; he is 'hip' as we say (or made himself hip)(hip = trendy), or he was... he did some other designs but they had never the impact and strenght of that first. he is more a brand and marketeer then a good designer. but he accomplished something what others never succeed in, so for that: my respect. Appr. the same time another 'brand' did the same 'Dark', eventually arne quinze did a design for them. But the question is; will these brands that are trendy succeed in survival once this trend is over? will they be able to reinvent themselves? (and that is the true strenght of a big one; designer, artist, singer...)
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