Jil Sander based her trend home in Hamburg in 1969, with the model steadily gaining a popularity for its clear traces and minimalist aesthetics, and the designer making use of her purist imaginative and prescient to the whole lot from materials to flagship shops. She would go on to give up her eponymous label, return after which give up once more, however she has continued to design the extremely sought-after +J collections for Uniqlo (and launched a career-spanning monograph, Jil Sander by Jil Sander, in 2024).
Sander was just lately invited to collaborate with pioneering furnishings maker Thonet, taking its tubular metal icons and placing her personal stamp on them. Her two new traces, ‘Nordic’ and ‘Critical’, weave in high-gloss lacquered wooden particulars and Viennese canework or leather-based seats and backrests in a nuanced color palette, including a contemporary class to a traditional kind. Right here she talks to Wallpaper* contributing editor Nick Vinson concerning the inspiration behind this particular challenge.
We ask Jil Sander about her delicate tackle a Thonet traditional
Wallpaper*: You selected to reinterpret the ‘S 64’ chair, designed by Marcel Breuer in 1929. Why did you choose this one, and what makes it such a timeless traditional?
Jil Sander: Its elementary sq. dimensions are very reassuring; it’s an icon of uncompromised modernity. Once I was approached by Thonet about the opportunity of a cooperation, it felt near my design aesthetics, and so appeared well worth the effort of a reappraisal. I like its democratic kind, which doesn’t urge you into a particular place. It’s comfy for everybody and makes a powerful spatial assertion.
‘Nordic’ chair by Jil Sander for Thonet
(Picture credit score: Hartmut Nagele)
W*: Your intervention is respectful and restrained. How did you resolve how far to go and the place to cease?
JS: I couldn’t contact the Breuer kind, thus my concepts have been channelled from the start. I instantly considered disposing of the chrome body, which shines like a mirror. That’s why I didn’t polish the cantilever, fairly the other. I wished to subdue the shiny look and add a sure the Aristocracy. This influenced the selection of leather-based and canework, too.
W*: You picked two contrasting finishes for the chair, one a wealthy gloss and the opposite an uncommon matt nickel silver. Is that this a end you’ve got utilized in earlier architectural initiatives?
JS: The matt nickel silver body of the ‘Nordic’ line has a hotter aura. We subtly attuned it to the lighter leather-based colors and the canework seat model, in addition to to the 2 oak variations, one varnished in a pure tone and the opposite stained with white pigment. I had used nickel silver for the metalwork in my flagship shops. If you wish to create an atmosphere of understated luxurious, nickel silver acts like a spine.
The ‘Critical’ line is a high-gloss reinterpretation of the ‘S 64’ chair, obtainable in 4 totally different shades of leather-based or as a darkish canework model
(Picture credit score: Hartmut Nagele)
W*: When growing the Italian tanned bull leather-based for the seat and again, what did you need to obtain within the tanning, end, contact and color?
JS: We wished high-quality leather-based with a agency contact. The grained construction lends the leather-based a extra animated look.
W*: How will the ‘pure’ color leather-based age?
JS: The leather-based high quality of each traces is similar. Within the ‘Nordic’ line, solely the wooden has been pigmented, the leather-based has been tanned naturally. The furnishings comes with care directions. A sure patina over time will look good towards the matt nickel silver body.
W*: The octagonal weaving method used for the Viennese canework was highly regarded within the Biedermeier interval, and Thonet has been utilizing it since 1819. How have you ever tweaked it?
JS: Biedermeier was a contemporary motion in Europe that was fairly unbiased from classicism. It mixed a spirit of restraint and simplification with nice craftsmanship and a love of nature. By the work of architect Adolf Loos, Vienna grew to become a hotspot for the mixing of workmanship into the fashionable imaginative and prescient. These vibes ring true once more as we speak. I reworked the cane, we bleached and pigmented it to offer it with a recent attractiveness and to underline the sophistication of the pure materials.
‘Nordic’ chairs by Jil Sander for Thonet
(Picture credit score: Hartmut Nagele)
W*: You will have collaborated extensively with architect Michael Gabellini, backyard designer Penelope Hobhouse, and photographers comparable to Irving Penn and Peter Lindbergh. What’s it prefer to replace one thing designed by one other individual, and have you ever ever reworked something like this earlier than?
JS: I’m new within the sphere of up to date design icons, however I prefer to be taught and to orient myself in a brand new area. As with my backyard, it implies the examine of historical past, aesthetic prospects and the totally different qualities which might be obtainable. It takes a designer’s sensibility to create a brand new synthesis. As to the cooperation with different artistic individuals, step one is to resolve who you need to work with. As soon as there’s a basic affinity, mutual understanding can simply be achieved. I’m an ideal believer in motivation by clarification.
W*: You reside and work in a pair of late Nineteenth-century villas in Hamburg designed by Martin Haller. In a earlier interview, you informed me that whenever you renovated them, you learnt that each one type intervals have a purist model of enlightened craftsmanship and selection supplies. You selected to {photograph} your Thonet chairs there. Why do you’re feeling that inserting objects collectively from totally different intervals works so properly?
JS: We stripped the Martin Haller atelier home of its Nineteenth-century inside, creating uncluttered area that’s then flooded by Hamburg’s crisp northern mild. We left traces of the unique design, just like the stucco ceilings and doorways, and restored them to a museum stage. Within the curiosity of beneficiant proportions, we additionally took out some partitions. When the spatial proportions are proper, all you want is so as to add a chair of any type you prefer to infuse the area with life.
(Picture credit score: Hartmut Nagele)
W*: You will have paired the chairs with two works by Imi Knoebel, Tempo Primo and Figur H105. What’s it about this artist that pulls you, and why did you select to {photograph} the chairs along with his work?
JS: I had little question that the reimagined Breuer chair would look nice towards Imi Knoebel’s art work, which is an equal to my imaginative and prescient of purity. I collected his work from very early on. In my expertise, when you construct environment in line with your style, each new curiosity will slot in.
W*: Folks like to make use of labels comparable to ‘minimalist’ round you, however they most likely don’t know of your style for each Renaissance and opulence. How does that sit together with your purist aesthetic and these chairs?
JS: You’ll be able to even introduce minimalist aesthetics to a Renaissance inside, if you happen to preserve the rooms aside. I constructed a high-tech kitchen within the centre of my Haller residence; its inside had been recreated by architect Renzo Mongiardino within the Renaissance type.
‘JS Thonet – A Private Interpretation by Jill Sander’ is on present from 7-13 April at Through Brera 16, Milan
thonet.de
Salone del Cellular 2025 takes place 8-13 April. Examine our full Milan Design Week 2025 information for the must-sees
This text seems within the Might 2025 challenge of Wallpaper*, obtainable in print on newsstands from 3 April, on the Wallpaper* app on Apple iOS, and to subscribers of Apple Information +. Subscribe to Wallpaper* as we speak
Supply: Wallpaper
