What was the inspiration for your direction of the deconstruction?
I view deconstruction as an opportunity for rebirth, a chance to reenter and express a fresh, creative perspective unimagined at the time of original creation. As a visual person, the exterior of an object is the first thing my eye interacts with. As a material, leather offers magical possibilities. I have long been obsessed with leather and how its textures and patterns influence the design of a piece, which inspired my recently launched leather collection with LeBravo. Midnight is one of the articles in the collection, and I imagined the powerful rebirth it would give to any object. Rebirth and the role of leather were my inspiration.
How does the finished piece evoke the essence of your brand?
As a designer, the idea of possibilities is a frontier that I luxuriate in. Identifying the perfect alternative and solution to enhance and elevate an object or space is the thriving force behind my brand. If I am the recipient of a smile after a surprised exhale, the essence of my brand maintains its life. While the Archibald chair is beautiful as it was originally conceived, I believe that my expression gave it a new life while maintaining its soul.
House of Honey
Herstory
This is herstory.
She is a collection of stories of all women before her.
She is the divine feminine.
She isn’t afraid to express herself. Look how she sparkles and shines. She is a magnetic force.
She is the ChairWOman. And she has a lot to say. She’s going to need a bigger table.
The nurturer, the healer. She has a child at her feet, a lover at her side, and a place for her ailing parent to rest.
She ages, and her patinaed wrinkles remember all who took comfort in her arms. Always grounded, she is a place just to be.
There is power in this place.
With love,
Honey
Herstory was designed by the female collective House of Honey. @HouseofHoney
Nicole Gordon Studio
Uccelli del Paradiso
What was the inspiration for your direction of your chair’s deconstruction?
For our interpretation, we were inspired by the history of the company and its Italian heritage, starting in Turin, where they have been making furniture for over 100 years. It is so impressive that Poltronau Frau appeals to such a wide clientele and creates furniture for residential and hospitality projects, as well as royalty.
For such a modern-looking chair, I was blown away by how comfortable it is. Along with function, we considered the company’s age and thought of Mario Buatta—whose grandfather was an Italian craftsman—and decided to honor his flamboyant and colorful design, combining modern flair with traditional upholstery methods.
How does the finished piece evoke the essence of your brand?
Uccelli del Paradiso reflects that we strive to not have a signature style or a recognizable body of work. Rather, our firm focuses on each project individually, considering the architecture, the location and the client and their needs. We listen to what people want, and in this case, we were able to create a chair that is more fanciful and that could be placed in many different types of spaces.
Emma DeRoche Interior Design
La Robe de Marie
What was the inspiration for your direction of your chair’s deconstruction?
For the Archibald revamp I wanted to give it new proportions, with a direction of grandeur, the stamp of my upbringing and the flavors of my personality. I was inspired by visual memories I dearly cherish from my walks as a child in the Jardins de Versailles with all the oxidized—larger than life—bronze sculptures, as well as visions of young fashionable Marie Antoinette running in the gardens in one of her blue dresses. Flowing fabric, rigid metal, oxidized bronze, the color blue and the Queen’s throne. How does the finished piece evoke the essence of your brand?
I was born and raised in Paris, so it authentically hit home to work on a piece that was originally designed by a French architect for an Italian company. All I had left to do was apply the essence of my designs, which focus on visual and sensory aspects and the implementation of art to design. The concept of transforming the chair into a sculpture-like element came naturally to me. The fact that it ended up looking like a throne is a magical coincidence since the movements are a representation of upside-down flowing fabric. I couldn’t have found a better partner in crime to execute it than Jeanine and her brilliant team at Hattas Studio.
Chet Architecture
Topatopa Chair
What was the inspiration for your direction of the chair’s deconstruction?
Jean-Marie Massaud’s Archibald chair presents like wearable leather goods—soft to the touch, but tough and structured. We wanted to add texture and color while emphasizing the existing form of the chair, so we returned to fashion detailing for our inspiration. Our modified “slipcover” is akin to a fringed jacket, adding whimsy to the tailored form of the chair. Pair that with the high-gloss painted legs and Topatopa is ready for a night out. How does the finished piece evoke the essence of your brand?
Our work employs bold color, texture and pattern to playful effect while looking to art and place for inspiration. We also value craft tremendously, so the exquisitely made Poltrona Frau gray leather chair was an excellent starting point. Our embellishment is made through custom detailing—fringe, applied in a series of layers and carved into a custom landscape inspired by Georgia O’Keeffe's paintings of the American Southwest. The name “Topatopa” references the mountain backdrop of Ojai in Ventura County and the site of the famous “pink moment.”
Guilherme Wentz
Green Archie
What was the inspiration for your direction of the chair’s deconstruction?
For me, comfort is always related to exposure to raw nature. And being one of the most comfortable chairs, I decided to amplify that concept by making it look like it is part of a natural environment, like illustrating literally where my imagination goes when relaxing in that chair. There is also a feeling of nature when you see such a perfectly executed product, which makes me relate right to natural constructions.
How does the finished piece evoke the essence of your brand?
Living in Brazil, it interests me the most to explore those boundaries between outdoors and indoors, man-made and natural. Also, the idea of inviting people to sit closer to the ground has been a constant in our latest collections (to remind the relaxing and casual feeling of sitting in the grass, sand, or earth), and I wanted to use that factor on this intervention by removing the original legs of the Archibald.
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