Swarovski Brings Together Stars of the Design World for Milan Furniture Fair 2010

Written by Lyman Chandler Thursday, 27 January 2011 23:11

LONDON.- In a major new initiative from Swarovski Elements, some of the most exciting names in the design world – including Konstantin Grcic, Nendo, Moroso, BD Barcelona Design and Gaia&Gino – will be brought together during the Milan Furniture Fair 2010. The exhibition “Swarovski Elements at Work” shows what happens when 10 leading international designers are united with 9 of the world’s best industrial design producers. The results will be on show exclusively at the Triennale in Milan from 13 to 19 April. Swarovski has masterminded this unique series of partnerships between designers and manufacturers to discover new and unexpected ways to use crystals in industrial design. In “Swarovski Elements at Work”, you will find crystals, objects of beauty in their own right, incorporated in furniture and products in unexpected ways to create innovative pieces that will go on to be commercially produced and retailed around the world.

The project has brought together some exceptional international talents and producers. We are delighted, for example, to present Konstantin Grcic’s very first project with Abet Laminati and to introduce the important Chinese architects of Studio Pei-Zhu to Milan for the first time.

During visits at Swarovski’s headquarters in Wattens, Austria, designers and manufacturers alike were exposed to the most sophisticated new techniques and processes Swarovski has to offer. Products, from seating to accessories to wall treatments, will include crystal in groundbreaking and subtle combinations with a range of materials including leather, concrete and laminate.

Konstantin Grcic for Abet Laminati: Crystaline collection - crystals with laminate
The renowned industrial designer Konstantin Grcic, who is based in Munich, has created three new designs (Ray, Peak and Bling) for Abet Laminati, the Italian laminate specialists using for the first time ever crystals on laminate, something not previously attempted. “The project brief was to link crystal with the furniture industry, so I thought it would be best to create a material, rather than a product. Something that can be applied to furniture and interiors,” says Grcic. “Two of the patterns are very geometric, and all three use crystals sparingly. The effect of the crystals is so strong that a few seemed to look more precious than many.” Grcic has designed a bespoke circular seating area to demonstrate the new laminate, which will be seen exclusively in Milan at the Triennale.

Doshi Levien for MOROSO: Paper Planes - crystals with upholstery
Jonathan Levien and Nipa Doshi are a life/work couple based in London who met while studying at the Royal College of Art. Their relationship with MOROSO dates back to 2007; for the Italian company they have created a range of products demonstrating her love of textiles and pattern and his rigorous approach to design. For SWAROVSKI ELEMENTS at Work they have designed a small armchair that’s perfect for reading or relaxing, upholstered in a bespoke fabric using crystal. “The brief for this project was to create a usable product, so we had to make sure the crystal had some function and didn’t overwhelm the whole piece. We designed a highly geometric checked fabric where the crystal forms one of the lines. It becomes a fine, repeated detail rather than a massive statement,” says Doshi. “In material terms, the wool fabric is light-absorbent and the crystal reflective. It was important to play with that contrast,” adds Levien.

MOROSO is known as one of Italy’s most imaginative furniture producers and works extensively with Ron Arad, Patricia Urquiola, Tokujin Yoshioka and Tord Boontje among others. Patrizia Moroso, the company’s creative director, says of Doshi Levien: “Their work is really new in the way that it so successfully mixes tradition and modernity.”

Tomoko Azumi for lapalma: FLOE tables - crystals with LED lights
Tomoko Azumi had already explored the idea of picking up the reflection of crystals with LED lights when she made tiny paper lanterns for Swarovski’s Wedding Project, which has toured the world since 2008. Now the Japanese-born and educated, London-based designer has grown the concept into furniture, with a set of three tables. Inside the tables – sheet metal caskets topped with translucent glass – light emanates from LEDs and bounces off suspended crystals. “The illuminated tables are already a focal point in a dark room, but there is an added level of interactivity: when you touch them, something happens, the light moves and flickers, shadows play,” says Azumi, who worked with lapalma previously on the very successful LEM stool. “The company is excellent at precision work,” says Azumi, “but the installation of the crystal and the lighting inside the piece is pure innovation.”

Gitta Gschwendtner for Quinze & Milan: Quarry and Soft Crystal Series - crystals with plaster and ceramic; crystals with silicon
Gitta Gschwendtner came to London from Germany in the early 1990s to study furniture design, and stayed. “What was important to me was to make something which challenged the application of the crystals,” she says of the project. “They had to be entirely integrated into the piece.” Her two solutions were to cast a plaster and resin Fmix as stools and a low table, with a broken away, but crystal-sprinkled corner; and to encrust a soft silicon vase completely in crystal. “I love the way the crystals are so highly engineered and precise and perfect but appear in the imperfect moment of the broken corner,” she says. “For the vases, the crystals are randomly set, so you get to see all sides, the highly polished face and the matte sides also. It’s rugged and strong, so it’s a shock when you pick it up and it squashes in your hand.”

Francois Azambourg for GAIA&GINO: Fake Wood collection - crystals with leather
At the end of 2007, SWAROVSKI ELEMENTS introduced Chaton Leather – a new application technique exclusive to the company which integrates Chatons into leather so perfectly that a flat surface results. The French designer Francois Azambourg, who has worked for some of the top leather companies as well as the big names in Italian design, was attracted by its assimilation of two opposing materials – hard, shiny crystal and organic, matte leather. Choosing to design products often made in wood – a desk-top box and a tray – he has instead evoked a wood grain pattern using Chatons. “These are often utilitarian products, so the introduction of something as fine and decorative as this patterned Chaton Leather technique is at odds with the objects. But it opens the door to a whole collection. These were our first steps to see if it worked, which it does,” says Azambourg.

Fanny Aronsen for FANNYARONSEN presented by KVADRAT: Novalin Irrbloss, Perla, Blenda, Spraka - crystal on fabric
Fanny Aronsen, born in Malmo, Sweden, is a designer and academic, trained in textile design and art history, and often weaving cultural references into her especially elegant work. The tactility of her design is paramount. “My challenge was to absorb the idea of crystals into the spirit of my design, my expression,” says Aronsen. “I love the soft tactile feel of the linen and the hard crystal. It’s astonishing – a completely new procedure.” She has produced various fabrics, one using the new technique, flocking with SWAROVSKI ELEMENTS. “That introduces a new three dimensionality,” says Aronsen. “And the brilliance of the crystal is highlighted by the wool.” Another, a work of extreme luxury, introduces hand-embroidery and large size crystal. The collection is completed with Novalin Irrbloss, a brilliant combination of SWAROVSKI ELEMENTS with black and white linen wallpaper.

Njusja de Gier is the marketing director of KVADRAT, the highly creative Danish company which produces and distributes Fanny Aronsen textiles. “It is a great opportunity to work with an established company like Swarovski and working with Fanny Aronsen is always a pleasure. She is so talented and a real expert in textile design. She has created four beautiful textile designs, and a wall covering, which represents a perfect symbiosis between the crystals and the fabric, bring out the best of both. By working with differently shaped crystals, and by using embroidery and different kinds of prints for the fabrics, she created an opulent and elegant collection.” KVADRAT’s managing director, Anders Byriel, adds that Fanny’s contribution shows her unique skill in combining technology, industrial design and art history.”

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