Small “!” moment

24 Nov 2009 3 Comments

by madsilence in Art, design, Life, Thoughts Tags: Cloud Seating Collection, fade-out chair, Jason Phillips, Museum of Arts and Design, Nendo

Fade-Out Chair (Nendo, 2009), Acrylic, # 29 1/2 x 16 1/8 x 19 1/2 in. (75 x 41 x 49.5 cm). Image source: MAD

During a recent visit to New York City’s Museum of Arts and Design I discovered the “Fade-Out Chair” of Japanese design studio Nendo (the Tokyo-based design studio founded by Oki Sato in 2002), part of the MAD exhibition Ghost Stories: New Designs from Nendo.

When first confronted with the fade-out chair, I experienced a “small “!” moment.”  Six of the chairs were displayed in a random pattern on a white surface, making the chairs appear as if they were emerging from, disappearing into, or floating on a layer of clouds.  The display was simple yet engaging, humorous in its implications.  I gave a security guard conniptions with my vocal desire to test the chairs’ ability to support my weight.  Would I sink into the clouds, or rise to the sky?

According to MAD:

“The ‘fade-out chair’ appears to float in space; the legs seem to gently disappear, as though the chair stands in a pool of mist or fog.  The chair’s back and seat are made of traditional wood, while the legs are made of clear acrylic.  Skilled artisans painted the surfaces of the transparent legs with a trompe l’oeil wood grain pattern that fades away toward the bottom of the legs.  In the designer’s words, ‘Usually, our perception of furniture is strongly affected by the space around it.  The ‘fade-out chair’ turns this relationship on its head; we can change the look and feel of a space simply by placing the chair in it.  This was our attempt to design space itself through furniture.”

A fitting accompaniment to the fade-out chair might be furniture from the Cloud Seating Collection designed by Jason Phillips for The Phillips Collection.

Cloud Seating Collection designed by Jason Phillips for The Phillips Collection. Image source: DesignMilk

For more “art of the chair.”

~MadSilence

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