Luminaire understands the importance of nurturing emerging designers, giving them the space to explore and experiment while providing them with the resources needed to embrace the tried and true tenants of good design.
Jasper Morrison may be one of today’s most seminal industrial designers, but it was Luminaire who made possible his first introduction to a US audience. In June 1992, during the annual NeoCon World’s Trade Fair, Luminaire invited Morrison to share his ‘Three Sofas’ design for Cappellini and his ‘Atlas’ tables for Alias. The sensuous curves and soft texture of ‘Three Sofas’, a series of chairs, sofas and chaises lounges made of dense polyurethane foam, made it an iconic piece, and the delightfully geometric simplicity of the steel and wooden ‘Atlas’ tables made them a regular feature in homes, businesses, and cultural institutions all over the world.
As visitors became acquainted with Morrison and his work, Luminaire also hosted a dazzling selection of the best designs from Milan’s Salone del Mobile 1992, including pieces by the newest addition to Luminaire’s rost of manufacturers, Baleri Italia. Morrison’s dazzling vision was placed within the context of other leading designs from that year.
The critic, Charles Arthur Boyer, described Morrison’s design ethos as such: ‘to produce everyday objects for everyone’s use, make things lighter not heavier, softer not harder, inclusive rather than exclusive, generate energy, light and space.’ During NeoCon 1992, Morrison’s designs certainly introduced a more introspective, peaceful and cooperative philosophy to those who experience it.
Monday, June 1, 1992
