Paris Design Week 2012: architect and designer Jean Nouvel unveiled a collection of aluminium chairs for Emeco at his studio in Paris this week.
"I wanted the lightest object possible," Nouvel told Dezeen at the launch on Monday evening. "You can see how the material moves with the body and I spent a long time designing the curve of the chair."
Emeco has been manufacturing aluminium chairs since they made the famously robust Navy chair for the US government in 1944.
Emeco have previously collaborated with other well-known architects and designers - see Norman Foster's designs for the brand here and chairs by Philippe Starck here.
See all our stories about Jean Nouvel »
See all our stories about Emeco »
The following information is from Emeco:
The So-So Chair
Emeco is launching a new collection together with the French iconic designer Jean Nouvel. The So-So collection, include chairs and stools made of 80% recycled aluminum, reclaiming both post-industrial and post-consumer waste. The chairs and stools are lightweight and durable, all handmade in the factory in Pennsylvania, USA, using the same process as the famous Navy chairs from 1944. “I just kept the same DNA and evolved it into a new light and comfortable chair.” Says Jean Nouvel at the preview launch in Paris Sept, 2012. "Jean Nouvel has really managed to take the back bone of Emeco and leverage a new vocabulary,” says Emeco’s CEO, Gregg Buchbinder. Together Emeco and Jean Nouvel have highlighted the sustainable philosophy of using what others discard to make something beautiful and long lasting. “Working with Emeco is like being in a field of wheat. The crop is grown and my job was to simply harvest.” Says Jean Nouvel.
First installed at the Hotel Sofitel Vienna Stephandom
In true minimalistic Jean Nouvel spirit, the So-So chair follows what Nouvel often calls the quality of “Nothingness”. Curating a lean balance against the multi-colored illuminated video ceilings by Pipilotti Rist covering the cathedral inspired Hotel Sofitel Vienna Stephansdom in Austria. The So-So chair was first installed in the public spaces of the Sofitel flagship, acting as an intimate embracement and a perfect contrary to Rist’s bright and colorful works allowing the guests to engage in the views of the city. The public interiors at the dining areas are dominantly kept its raw grey, as for the So-So chair, made in hand brushed aluminum using the same lean process as its mid century antecedents. “Architecture is an opportunity, to continue games begun by others, years or even centuries ago,“ says Nouvel about the project.