According to Dieter Rams’ ten principles for good design, nothing must be arbitrary or left to chance. ‘If I’d followed those rules, this collection would not exist,’ says Christopher Stuart, whose functional furniture series, ‘Constructs & Glitches’, was recently unveiled at New York design outpost, The Future Perfect. A mash-up of geometric shapes in off-kilter arrangements, the objects revel in obscurity, eliciting a slightly uncomfortable sense of bewilderment as one tries to make sense of them. ‘Emotion is a function,’ Stuart says. ‘For me, design can be arbitrary if it fulfills an emotional need.’
Stuart’s approach to design mirrors his approach to life, where running headfirst into the unknown is a means of moving forward. Hailing from Indiana, Stuart pursued furniture design at the Herron School of Art and Design. He worked his way up the ladder at a consumer electronics company in Carmel, where he ultimately designed products for General Electric. When he was laid off, he started his own studio, Luur, and published two books on DIY furniture: a culmination of his industrial design research, where he discovered people like himself who were prototyping their ideas using inexpensive materials.
Today, he’s constantly looking for ways to grow and experiment with what’s available to him. ‘At Luur, we work across branding, industrial and interior design,’ Stuart explains. ‘It helps me understand what I want to do on the self-initiated side, and has shown me there’s room for people to do things that are completely different.’
As its name suggests, ‘Constructs & Glitches’ celebrates distortion. The pieces were created using CAD software, where Stuart encountered program errors when he’d try to do things like assign a radius to a box. Instead of working around the glitches, which appear as incomplete, irregular surfaces, he incorporated them into the design. Stuart worked closely with David Alhadeff, founder of The Future Perfect, to refine the resulting six objects, which are primarily made from folded sheets of aluminum and steel; Glitch 1, a sculptural winged creation, was 3D-printed and cast in bronze.
Each piece contains a surprise: a cantilevered lip of a table (visible beneath its glass top); a bench’s flip-flopped, half-moon-shaped seat. ‘What I love so much about the design is that it was out of my control,’ Stuart says. ‘It’s about being honest and embracing that.’
Being concurrently exhibited in the space is the 'Equalizer' lighting series, a joint effort between Ladies & Gentlemen Studio and the glass artist John Hogan. The jewellery-like hanging pendants, which feature Hogan’s quixotic, phosphorescent glass, are complemented by an assortment of other glass sculptures by Hogan, also on display.
Hailing from Indiana, Stuart persued furniture design at the Herron School for Art and Design. He eventually started his own studio, Luur, and published two books on DIY furniture. Pictured: Glitch 2
‘Constructs & Glitches’ celebrates distortion. The pieces were created using CAD software, where Stuart encountered program errors. Instead of working around the glitches, which appear as incomplete, irregular surfaces, he incorporated them into the design. Pictured: Chamfer Table 1
Each piece contains a surprise: a cantilevered lip of a table (visible beneath its glass top); a bench’s flip-flopped, half-moon-shaped seat. Pictured: Chamfer Table 2
Being concurrently exhibited in the space is the 'Equalizer' lighting series, a joint effort between Ladies & Gentlemen Studio and the glass artist John Hogan
An assortment of other sculptures by Hogan, featuring his quixotic, phosphorescent glass, are also on display
INFORMATION
’Constructs & Glitches’ is on view until June. For more information, visit The Future Perfect’s website
Photography: Lauren Coleman
ADDRESS
The Future Perfect
55 Great Jones Street
New York, NY 10012
-
A celestial New York exhibition showcases Roman and Williams’ mastery of lightingLauded design studio Roman and Williams is exhibiting 100 variations of its lighting ‘family tree’ inside a historic Tribeca space
-
‘He immortalised the birth of the supermodel’: inside Dior’s career-spanning retrospective of photographer Peter LindberghOlivier Flaviano, curator and head of Paris’ La Galerie Dior, talks us through a new Peter Lindbergh retrospective, which celebrates the seminal German photographer’s longtime relationship with the French house
-
Take a bite: Laila Gohar and The Luxury Collection’s ‘Cakes & Candles’ are a sweet treat for the sensesLaila Gohar’s six cake-inspired candles draw on The Luxury Collection’s hotels around the world – where guests can enjoy matching edible confections
-
Brooklyn furniture studio Stillmade unveils its first collaborative design seriesStillmade brings to life the designs of four New Yorkers – Pat Kim, Danny Kaplan, Michele Quan and Mignogna Studio
-
Blue Green Works's lighting champions a new aesthetic in American designManhattan-based design studio Blue Green Works fuses sensuality and masculinity to create mellow, mood-enhancing lighting with visual impact
-
Blue Green Works introduces alluring new lighting collectionInspired by iconography, American design studio Blue Green Works introduces five new lighting ranges
-
Exclusive peek at artfully curated home in Jean Nouvel’s 53 West 53RR Interiors' latest furnishing project – 61A at 53 West 53 – highlights art, architecture and city views inside Jean Nouvel's monumental New York skyscraper in Midtown Manhattan
-
Industrial elements are imbued with elegance in Holly Hunt’s new Los Angeles showroomHolly Hunt and architects Johnston Marklee have created a warm and tactile space in a 1940s building
-
Sculptural ceramic lamps from Brooklyn’s In Common With and Danny Kaplan‘Terra’, a new collection of ceramic lamps featuring tactile glazes, puts Brooklyn studio In Common With and ceramicist Danny Kaplan in the spotlight
-
Sight Unseen launches furniture line with BestcaseEditorial platform Sight Unseen worked with sheet metal specialist Bestcase to launch a collection of 1970s-inspired furniture in collaboration with Home Studios, Studio Anansi and Thévoz-Choquet
-
Roll & Hill and Post Company's lighting designs in Inness are inspired by Georgian bell jarsBrooklyn-based studio Post Company created a new lighting collection for Roll & Hill, inspired by bell jar lanterns and conceived for country refuge Inness
