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It’s nice to finally see the pieces in the context of the gallery, as I have only seen them in the workshop up until now and they are looking good,” says German designer Konstantin Grcic about hisnew collection of Champion tables in Galerie Kreo in Paris. The eight aluminium tables, four round and four circular with clear or dark-grey glass tops, have words such as “Banzai”, “Apache” and “Jetdog” written across the trestle-like legs in garish colours. “The words are chosen at random. We just made them up in the studio, taking inspiration from the graphics and wording of sports equipment,” Grcic says. It’s a daring collection that makes the world of sports goods rub up against the world of exclusive, limited-edition furniture design. Grcic sees it as an opportunity to give the tables some esteem and ego. “I envy the world of sports equipment, as it works with graphics and typography to enhance the expression of these things,” Grcic says. “Furniture design is always so static and serious; it has to be so elegant.” The collection was two years in the making and while the form of the tables is fairly modest, it was the graphic treatment that took the most time. After investigating several possibilities, Grcic settled on a traditional lacquering technique to paint the graphics on to each table. By coincidence, he discovered that Walter Maurer, a famous lacquering artist, lived 30 minutes away from his studio in Munich. “He’s an ex-racing-car driver and sprays anything with an engine,” Grcic says. Maurer worked with artists such as Frank Stella and Andy Warhol on a collection of art cars for BMW in the 1980s. The concept of Champions is an interesting one, but aesthetically the result is a little hard to stomach. ”The furniture industry is not yet ready for this type of experiment,” Grcic says.
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Image © Fabrice Gousset, Courtesy of Galarie Kreo
Words Johanna Agerman Ross |
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