Pierre-Emmanuel Vandeputte debuts anthropomorphic steel furniture
Belgian designer Pierre-Emmanuel Vandeputte has created a collection of long-legged steel furniture that he has imagined as a family of strange creatures.
Called Legs, the five designs comprise a chair, table, stool, clothes rail and step ladder. Each is made from bent black powder-coated lengths of welded tubular steel.
The simple asymmetrical structures blend long expressive legs with disc-like surfaces to give the the appearance of three-dimensional sketches.
The designer said he imagined the pieces as a series of creatures that invade the home.
"They've made their way into a new space: a room that is familiar to you, but causes them to hesitate. Their legs freeze on paths to destinations unknown. They are frozen in time," described Vandeputte.
"As you approach, you begin to notice that their limbs extend to corners of the room that you left unfurnished and were quick to forget," he continued.
"Each creature presents a different scale of proportions. Some are more easily suited to the indulgent pace of a lazy weekend morning; others to a brief gesture of acknowledgement as you run out the door, and others still to support simple evenings of deserved recovery."
The Legs collection is the latest work by Vandeputte, whose previous furniture designs include a portable desk divider that allows users to actively isolate themselves from the noise around them, and a playful cork helmet that lowers over the wearer's head when they need a respite from ambient noise.
The pieces were presented during this month's Stockholm Design Week as part of Belgium is Design – a promotional platform for brands from the Belgian design world.
Other highlights from the week included a collection of curtains by Margrethe Odgaard for Kvadrat that take cues from wainscoting and a series of biodegradable acoustic panels made from a new plant-based material by Baux.
Photography by Miko Miko Studio.