Dressmaker Jil Sander has launched the JS Thonet assortment at Milan design week, that includes reworked variations of architect Marcel Breuer’s basic S 64 chair.
Unveiled in Milan, Sander’s assortment options completely different variations of the S 64 chair alongside an up to date tackle Thonet’s B 97 aspect desk.
In Sander’s arms, the tubular S 64 metal chair was reinterpreted for 2 completely different collections beneath the JS Thonet umbrella, named Severe and Nordic.
Sander, who is understood for her minimalist designs, used shiny steel frames and leather-based upholstery in varied shades for the Severe line. She additionally created a model in dark-hued canework.
“For me, the Severe line expresses focus and focus,” Sander mentioned. “I needed the chair’s iconic standing to be obvious at first look and its particulars to slowly reveal themselves.”
“The shades of leather-based are delicate and but the best way the Bordeaux crimson, olive and black are fractured by the dominant graphite tone injects emotion into the chair’s design.”
Nordic, in the meantime, has a nickel silver end mixed with white pigmented oak and pale leather-based seats. One other model of the Nordic chair was made out of light-coloured canework.
“In these variations, I took a Nordic design method, and in addition let myself be impressed by the sensuality of pure supplies,” Sander mentioned. “To boost this impact, I used a nickel-silver end within the light-coloured whitewashed wooden and leather-based model.”
Sander did not need to make any substantial modifications to the chair designed by Breuer in 1929, which is understood for its slender, cantilevered form.
“I wasn’t excited by utterly redesigning these classics,” she mentioned. “It was extra about taking them to the following stage.”
The JS Thonet assortment additionally features a aspect desk, a brand new model of Thonet’s B 97 aspect desk, which the model says is paying homage to Breuer’s nesting desk B 9.
Designed to be slid over sofas, beds or armchairs, the tables even have a space-saving design that lets them slot collectively.
“As soon as the cantilever chairs had been completed, they had been screaming for a chunk to enrich them,” Sander mentioned. “So we created the nesting sidetables with matching colors and supplies.”
To the designer, who mentioned she is “vastly influenced” by the Bauhaus design motion by which Breuer performed a pivotal position, the JS Thonet assortment is not markedly completely different from Breuer’s unique chair.
“I attempt to create a end result that appears pure and by no means compelled,” she defined. “The signature assortment merely appears to be like as if we had taken Breuer’s cantilever chair and thoroughly polished it. Regardless of the brand new particulars, the unique is straight away recognisable.”
Sander mentioned her pared-back method to vogue was additionally influenced by the work of different architects and industrial designers, together with Japanese minimalist Tadao Ando.
“For me, the Ibaraki Kasugaoka Kyokai by Tadao Ando was a formative expertise,” Sander mentioned. “American architect Jay Smith additionally impressed me quite a bit, and I spent fourteen years working with the architect Michael Gabellini. We created 80 retail areas collectively.”
“Zaha Hadid and I explored the thought of a collaboration however sadly, we by no means received the possibility to grasp all of our concepts,” she added. “My very own interiors had been impressed by the work of Donald Judd and Eileen Grey.”
Sanders’ designs for Thonet mark the corporate’s newest reimagining of its basic designs. Beforehand, Swedish studio Entrance created an uneven model of the 14 bentwood chair whereas London’s Industrial Facility reinvented the 214 chair.
The pictures is by Hartmut Nägele, courtesy of Thonet GmbH.
See our Milan design week 2025 information on Dezeen Occasions Information for details about the various different exhibitions, installations and talks happening all through the week.
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