Milan 2014: Danish design brand Menu has launched its first chair, as part of a collection by Stockholm studio Afteroom that also includes a stackable table and a stone caddy.
Taiwanese designers Hung-Ming Chen and Chen-Yen Wei of Afteroom first presented the Afteroom Chair in 2012, but are launching it with Menu at the Salone Satellite in Milan this week, alongside the Afteroom Side Table and the Afteroom Caddy.
The three-legged chair's rounded details, such as the oak seat and back support, contrast with the solid-steel linear frame. The result is a minimal design that pays tribute to an early twentieth-century aesthetic.
"The Afteroom Chair is an homage to Bauhaus and functionalism. The simplicity of its design combined with the quality of materials is what's important," said Afteroom's Hung-Ming Chen.
"We embraced the challenge of designing something minimalistic with clean lines, without in any way compromising its comfort. In that sense we've looked towards classic Scandinavian features as inspiration," he said.
"Afteroom Chair is based on the concept of reducing the amount of materials to the minimum and by doing so pushing the aesthetic appearance to the maximum," added Chen-Yen Wei. "It's a designer's job to develop functional objects without compromising the aesthetics."
The chair is available in black, white, moss green and light grey.
To complete the collection, Afteroom have also created a stackable side table designed to be "as practical and durable as it is beautiful" and a stoneware caddy designed for tabletop storage in the kitchen, bathroom or office.
Afteroom will be on Stand d17 at SaloneSatellite Tuesday 8 – Sunday 13 April 2014, 9.30am – 6.30pm.