News: Generation X author Douglas Coupland has followed fellow celebrities Vanilla Ice, Brad Pitt and Pharrell Williams and designed a range of furniture, unveiling a collection of Japanese-inspired pieces.
Canadian novelist and artist Coupland has come up with a desk, chair, lamp and bookcase for SwitzerCultCreative, a design brand launched by brother and sister Allan and Renee Switzer.
Coupland's efforts come just a few days after rapper Vanilla Ice unveiled a lighting collection. In November actor Brad Pitt unveiled a range of limited-edition furniture. Hip hop star Pharrell Williams has also dabbled with furniture design while in 2007 astronaut Buzz Aldrin designed a moon-shaped light for Habitat.
Coupland's collection includes the Bento Box Escritoire, a black writing desk, and Paint Box Escritoire, a white writing desk with colourful storage pockets. The Writer's Seat fits beneath the desks and is available in five colours.
The Ryoan-ji floor and desk lamps are inspired by a chequer pattern seen by Coupland in a Kyoto temple and are made with wire frames wrapped in translucent material.
The Osaka bookshelf can be arranged in different configurations and is named after similar shelves seen by Coupland that survived the 1995 Osaka earthquake.
"The collection is a reflection of everything I use daily," says Coupland. "These are pieces that will unleash creativity, dopamine, high style and timelessness into their user's world."
Here's some information from SwitzerCultCreative:
Douglas Coupland Designs Luxury Furniture Line For SwitzerCultCreative
Prominent writer and visual artist Douglas Coupland is launching a collection of furniture designs, in collaboration with Vancouver-based SwitzerCultCreative, a brother-sister luxury design collective. The Douglas Coupland for SwitzerCultCreative collection is being unveiled on January 24th at Toronto’s Interior Design Show (IDS 13) taking place from January 24th to January 27th at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre.
"The 'Douglas Coupland for SwitzerCultCreative' collection is a reflection of everything I use daily," says Coupland. "These are pieces that will unleash creativity, dopamine, high style and timelessness into their user’s world."
Douglas Coupland for SwitzerCultCreative consists of a desk, chair, lamp and bookshelves.
The Desk: The Bento Box Escritoire and the special edition Paint Box Escritoire are two variations on a personal theme from Coupland. His fascination with an escritoire, rather than a run-of-the-mill desk, inspires thought, broadens his mind and because of the nature of the escritoire – a vessel for writing alone – encourages the thought process and makes him want to write more.
The Writer’s Seat: Available in five different colours, the seat fits perfectly beneath either escritoire. "When I went to art school in Hokkaido, I had to study several Japanese art forms — ikebana, rock arranging, calligraphy and sumi-e painting," says Coupland. "I think everybody should study these things. It makes you reframe the way you see the world. These seats are unexpectedly ergonomic and work whether you’re doing ink work, or blogging on a MacBook Pro."
Ryoan-ji Lamps: These lamps take strong influences from Japanese culture, specifically a checker pattern seen by Coupland in Kyoto’s Ryoan-ji Temple in 1986. A floor lamp and a desk lamp have shades made with wire frames wrapped with a translucent shoji-type material.
Osaka Bookshelves: These sleek, stacking bookshelves will provide a luxurious home for any book collection. Simple in style, the Osaka bookshelves are so named after Coupland saw similar shelving that survived the 1995 Osaka earthquake. They have been designed to encase paperbacks, hardcover and oversize books. Says Coupland: "They’re simple, smart, strong, and can be arranged in any number of configurations like Legos. They also have caps and kicks available should you want to change proportions."
The Douglas Coupland for SwitzerCultCreative collection is only available through SwitzerCultCreative, who hold the exclusive worldwide license to market and supply the range.