A solo exhibition of work by Dutch designer Joris Laarman opens at Friedman Benda gallery in New York on Thursday.
Called Joris Laarman Lab, the exhibition presents new pieces including Bone Rocker, a rocking version of his Bone Armchair (top) and Bridge Table (above).
Above: Leaf Table, 2010, Resin, Steel and Aluminum
More Dezeen stories about Joris Laarman:
WirePod for Artecnica (April 2008)
Bone Armchair (March 2008)
Heatwave radiator for Jaga (May 2007)
Bone Chair (December 2006)
Above: Asimov. Photo courtesy Joris Laarman Lab and Friedman Benda, New York
Here's some info from Friedman Benda:
JORIS LAARMAN UNVEILS NEW WORK AT FRIEDMAN BENDA - First U.S. Solo Exhibition Opens March 4, 2010
NEW YORK - On March 4th, a new body of work by Dutch designer Joris Laarman will be unveiled at Friedman Benda. Laarman’s unique aesthetic merges cutting-edge technology and the life-sciences to create work of unexpected beauty.
Above: Cumulus Table, 2010, marble
Above: Bone Rocker
In 2008, Laarman’s Bone Chair and Bone Chaise, his first two works since graduating from Eindhoven, were displayed in MoMA’s exhibition Design and the Elastic Mind.
\Above: Bone Armchair and Bone Rocker
This marked a major milestone in his career and the chair subsequently was added to the museum’s permanent collection. The show will be on view from March 4 through April 10, at Friedman Benda, 515 West 26th Street.
Above: Bridge Table (small), 2010, Aluminum and Tungsten Carbide
In 2006, Laarman’s Bone Chair revolutionized the design process by using an algorithm to translate the complexity, proportion and functionality of human bone and tree growth into a chair form. The algorithm, originally used by the German car industry, enabled him to reduce and strengthen his designs by optimizing material allocation, weight and stability, while minimizing material input. In his own words, he sculpted “using mother nature’s underlying codes.”
Above: Half Life, 2010, glass vitrines, lamp base.
The upcoming exhibition is the culmination of five years of trial and error, exploratory material research and his continuous quest to translate science into functional objects of beauty, now on a monumental scale.
Below: In Case of a Thousand Books, 2010 (rendering), steel, poly concrete and glass
His new body of work expands on his core investigations; it includes Skyline Storage, Fractal Bookshelf, Stair Cabinet, Leaf Table and Half Life Lamp, a sustainable lamp made from living cells.
Above: Bone Armchair, 2006
About Joris Laarman
Joris Laarman was born in the Netherlands in 1979, and graduated cum laude from the Design Academy Eindhoven in 2003. While still in school he created the “heatwave radiator,” a design widely-lauded and incorporated into museum collections such as the Cooper-Hewitt and Fond national d’art contemporain, Puteaux, France, and has been produced by Droog.
Above: Bone Chair, 2006, aluminium
In 2004, he received Wallpaper’s “Young Designer of the Year” award, and in the same year established his studio and laboratory. He has since received the Red Dot design award (2006), the Woon award (2007), and the international Elle deco award (2008). He has collaborated with Flos, Vitra, Swarovskki, and Droog.
Below: Bone Chaise, 2006, polyurethane-based resin
