The Robb Report Collection

The Shape of the Future

Christian Gulliksen

01/01/2003

The footprints of contemporary furniture are nearly a century old, but Americans have yet to embrace its pared-down elegance with the same gusto as Europeans. “[Americans] drive Audis, they wear Armani suits and they stay in boutique hotels with contemporary furnishings,” says Bob van Kampen, general sales manager for Dutch furniture manufacturer Montis. “But when they buy furniture, it’s still mostly traditional.”

Showrooms that focus on contemporary furnitureare, however, starting to pop up in unlikely locales like Birmingham, Ala., and Madison, Wis.; van Kampen believes it is a sign that Middle America’s taste is shifting, however gradually. “We’re appealing to a certain market, but it’s there,” says Charles Fayrod, national sales director of DOMA, an Italian newcomer to the American market. “Clients are coming in, looking to be educated and to get a better understanding of the product.” Brayton International’s vice president of product development Rob Scheper says, “People who grew up with modern furniture get it immediately. Many who didn’t are intrigued but not sure what to think about it.” All agree that there is no typical client for contemporary furniture. “A 60-year-old architect might come in and buy a chair, and then a 23-year-old software designer might buy the same chair,” says Fayrod. “It’s not about age or generation. It’s about lifestyle.” (Click image to enlarge)

The two major contemporary furniture shows—Salone del Mobile in Milan and the International Contemporary Furniture Fair (ICFF) in New York—last year displayed the full gamut of cutting-edge European furniture that is now arriving in stores. “In many ways, contemporary design is overwhelmingly controlled by the Italians,” says American designer Critz Campbell. Top designers like Achille Castiglioni, Piero Lissoni and Antonio Citterio, who create furnishings and lighting for all the major Italian players—B&B Italia, Cappellini, Flos, Domus and Artemide—have become familiar to Americans through the austerely minimalist groupings of linear sofas seen in ads. “It’s clean, intelligent and high quality,” notes Campbell. “But the price for the intelligence is that it can sometimes be cold.” (Click image to enlarge)

American designers such as Kevin Kopil, on the other hand, inject their furniture with familiar references to past styles, be they Shaker, Mission or Far Eastern. “The low, slick, Italian look isn’t for everyone,” says Vladimir Kagan, a trailblazer of modern design in the 1950s and 1960s who continues to produce new collections. “It’s much more fun to be creative with a curved line.” Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer concurred. “What attracts me,” he said, “is the free, sensual curve. The universe is made of curves.” (Click image to enlarge)

At the ICFF show, the retro trend continued unabated, as many companies reissue furniture lifted verbatim from the past. “It seems that people are still looking for that retro look,” says Christine Muller, marketing director of Kartell, which has reintroduced products that were successful in the 1960s and ’70s. Brayton International has found a new sideline reissuing quintessentially Scandinavian modern designs from Danish masters Hans Wegner and Finn Juhl. Vitra does a brisk business in pieces from designers like Ray and Charles Eames and Jean Prouvé, and Lost City concentrates on reviving original designs, such as the circa 1950s Float Back sofa. Vivid fuchsias, oranges, reds and yellows—strongly rooted in the ’60s—are still the upholstery colors of choice. (Click image to enlarge)

Avant-garde designers are busy putting their own spin on conventional forms. At first glance, the traditional lines and Depression-era chintz of Critz Campbell’s Eudora chair for b9 appear to be the stuff of your grandmother’s living room. A flick of a switch, however, and the translucent fiberglass shell bonded to the flowery fabric lights up and glows from within.

The unexpected juxtaposition of old-fashioned coziness and modern-day bravura is a source of fascination and delight. “If it were simply a plastic chair, I don’t think it would get that reaction,” says Campbell. In a similar vein, Philippe Starck’s Louis Ghost chair for Kartell is an elegant Louis XV fauteuil reimagined in transparent single-mold polycarbonate that is tinted icy shades of gray, yellow, orange and green.
As with many contemporary pieces, the form of Kagan’s undulating Serpentine sofa was largely influenced by function. “My clients were major art collectors who had Jackson Pollocks on their walls,” he says. “They were moving furniture away from the walls.” The constant refrain of “lifestyle” keeps cropping up in conversations with designers. “People want to stay at home,” says Kagan. “They are looking for comfort. The big changes coming are not so much in style as in comfort.” Comfort is also an important factor for Christian Biecher, who has just designed a new collection for Bernhardt that includes gently rounded lounge chairs and a sofa that floats on splayed aluminum legs. “It suits the way we live,” the French designer says. Fayrod agrees: “There is a trend toward warmer, inviting contemporary furniture.” (Click image to enlarge)

Also look for innovative uses of materials and technology that allow designers to push the stylistic envelope. Kartell, for instance, is developing a proprietary plastic compound that is pliant yet can withstand extreme temperatures. “It’s like rubber,” says Muller, “but it is plastic.” Montis’ Dandy chair is formed by injecting foam onto steel frames. “Otherwise,” Bob van Kampen says, “we couldn’t achieve that shape.” (Click image to enlarge)

“A classic piece transcends time,” says Fayrod. “The discerning buyer with a traditional home might have a few modern or contemporary pieces. I can easily see Mies van der Rohe’s Barcelona chair from the 1920s in a house furnished with Empire antiques.”

Retailers and designers all agree that the answer to the Europe versus U.S. style debate is to mix and match. That way consumers can blend good design of all ages and deftly sidestep getting trapped in any one trend—or country.
b9 Furniture, 773.533.1985, www.b9furniture.com;
Bernhardt Design, 866.634.0191, www.bernhardtdesign.com;
Brayton International, 800.627.6770, www.brayton.com;
ddc, 212.685.0800, www.ddc-newyork.com;
DOMA, 877.DOMA.USA, www.doma-usa.com;
Vladimir Kagan, 212.289.0031, www.vladimirkagan.com;
Kartell, 212.625.1494, www.kartell.com;
Kevin Kopil, 800.707.0729, www.kevinkopil.com;
Lost City Arts, 212.375.0500, www.lostcityarts.com;
Montis, 888.8.MONTIS, www.montis.nl;
Poltrona Frau, 212.777.7592, www.frauusa.com;
Vitra, 610.391.9780, www.vitra.com