Yearly, we maintain a watch out for designs that carry the surreal into our environment, and 2023 actually did not disappoint. From fruit- and pasta-shaped furnishings to chairs discreetly nodding to Mickey Mouse, we’ve got gathered our favorite surrealist designs from the previous 12 months, together with furnishings, inside equipment, lighting and extra.
BEST SURREALIST DESIGNS
‘Toppings’ ceiling gentle, by Lucia Massari and Barbini Specchi Veneziani, from Nilufar
(Picture credit score: Francesco Allegretto. Courtesy Lucia Massari)
This intricate glass ceiling gentle by Venetian designer Lucia Massari appears adequate to eat. Its picket base, clad with Murano mirror and supporting a row of uncovered lightbulbs, is complemented by curly glass parts impressed by the buttercream decorations discovered on fancy truffles and patisseries.
It’s a part of ‘Toppings’, a group of 4 lights crafted in collaboration with famend Italian mirror model Barbini Specchi Veneziani, and the continuation of Massari’s experiments with glass and color. Impressed by the best way melted glass appears like gentle sweet when poured in moulds or ready for glass blowing, Massari has layered the lamp within the type of curls and pins on high of tinted Venetian glass to create notably tempting ornamentation.
Whereas this specific lamp appears to be ‘flavoured’ with orange peel sweet and buttercream, different fashions within the assortment, out there from Milan’s Nilufar gallery, are impressed by caramel fudge, contemporary mints and blueberry frosting.
luciamassari.com
nilufar.com
‘OMG-GMO’, by Robert Stadler and Bitossi, for Carwan Gallery
(Picture credit score: Filippo Telaro)
Robert Stadler’s ‘OMG-GMO’ assortment of whimsical carrot- and watermelon-shaped creations are produced in collaboration with Italian producer Bitossi and Greek gallery Carwan. A sequence of 9 hand-painted practical objects are impressed by the genetic manipulation of fruit and greens in a bid to mirror on how people remodel nature – and their meals.
Completely straight cucumbers are stacked on an avocado base to type the ‘Dimension Matter’ flooring lamp; a slice of Japanese rectangular seedless watermelon turns into the ‘Juicy Josef’ stool; a trio of carrots turns into the ‘Tiptoe’ lamp; and wheel-like aubergines help a glass espresso desk, as a reference to Gae Aulenti’s ‘Tavolo con Ruote’. The result’s completely delectable.
bitossiceramiche.it
robertstadler.web
carwangallery.com
‘Mickey’ armchair, by India Mahdavi, for Gebrüder Thonet Vienna
(Picture credit score: Courtesy India Mahdavi and Gebruder Thonet Vienna)
Celebrated Iranian-French architect and designer India Mahdavi provides a brand new twist to Gebrüder Thonet Vienna’s well-known curved traces and bentwood furnishings with this cute armchair sporting a pair of Mickey Mouse ears.
Following her designs for Thonet’s ‘Loop’ assortment, this armchair is designed to be ‘embracing, vibrant and type’, with Mahdavi stating that it ought to be ‘a buddy to cherish and with massive ears, who listens to all of your fears’. Its silhouette is predicated on a steady line drawing, with the designer having pursued the road with out lifting her pencil, creating a stupendous piece of furnishings, stuffed with motion.
The curls look easy on paper, however have been truly fairly difficult for Thonet’s professional group of woodworkers, who needed to double their efforts to bend the beech wooden to attain Madhavi’s spherical ears. The black wooden is complemented by two totally different hues of inexperienced upholstery.
india-mahdavi.com
gebruederthonetvienna.com
‘Tidal’ assortment, by Germans Ermičs, for CC-Tapis
(Picture credit score: Courtesy Germans Ermics and cc-tapis)
Amsterdam-based Latvian designer Germans Ermičs is a Wallpaper* common, having gained a number of Design Awards for his charming creations through the years, as his experimentation with color and reflection are frequently was mesmerising installations and ethereal glass furnishings – showcased at Riga’s Museum of Ornamental Arts and Design with solo exhibition in 2023.
Now he has shifted our notion once more, this time tackling color by means of the medium of textiles, with a brand new assortment for Milan-based specialist CC-Tapis. Titled ‘Tidal’, the sequence contains six fluid fashions all made in Nepal utilizing Himalayan wool. It features a pink-violet ‘Overflow’ rug that resembles ripples on a seashore, and a blue-green ‘Retreat’ rug mirroring an ebbing tide.
Customizable in measurement and color, all fashions characteristic a classy shaded impact that was created by means of an revolutionary colouring system: a single color that varies in depth based mostly on the instances and the period by which the wool thread is immersed within the colouring tanks. The impact obtained is a slight nuance, which step by step intensifies its saturation.
germansermics.com
cc-tapis.com
‘Tortello’ armchair, by Barber Osgerby, for B&B Italia
(Picture credit score: Courtesy B&B Italia)
British studio Barber Osgerby continues its long-standing collaboration with B&B Italia with this pasta-inspired seating assortment. Impressed by the curvaceous type of tortello, a folded pasta form related to Italy’s Lombardy area, the couch and armchair are designed for consolation and leisure.
Every plush piece is crammed not with the normal herbs and parmesan cheese, however reasonably with a trapezoidal base topped with a recycled polyethylene foam physique and elastomer mattress, which supplies the ‘Tortello’ its recognisable, generously proportioned form. It’s upholstered in wool bouclé, with a hoop of ‘pinched’ stitching used so as to add definition to the profile.
It’s additionally an important piece of sustainable design, due to its minimal use of second-life polyethylene, and adhesive-free meeting that guarantees easy recycling. ‘Tortello’ is on the market in 5 totally different upholstery materials and over 40 colourways, together with vivid yellows and reds.
barberosgerby.com
bebitalia.com
‘Blade’ desk, by Bryan O’Sullivan Studio
(Picture credit score: Courtesy Bryan O’Sullivan )
This putting cantilevered aluminium desk is a part of Irish designer Bryan O‘Sullivan’s first furnishings assortment. Primarily based in London and New York, O’Sullivan has been producing bespoke, unique items for personal houses, inns and eating places across the globe for a decade, however has solely simply made a few of his designs extra extensively out there.
That includes a pink leather-based tabletop, white lacquered body and lined aluminium drawers, his ‘Blade’ desk, made to order in a restricted version of ten, is impressed by the space-age aesthetics of the Nineteen Sixties and Nineteen Seventies. With its chunky drawers and easy, rounded parts, the piece manages to be each highly effective and playful.
The eclectic assortment additionally features a stable oak sideboard that includes ceramic tile artworks by the Irish artist Cormac Boydell; a Sottsass-inspired ‘Jellyfish’ mirror; a midcentury tubular metal chair; and a brand new model of the ‘Croissant’ couch, initially conceived for the artwork deco-themed Berkeley bar and terrace.
bryanosullivan.com
‘Hyperlink’ couch, by Uncooked Shade, for Sancal
(Picture credit score: Courtesy of Sancal)
Even within the depths of the pandemic lockdowns, Daniera ter Haar and Christoph Brach of Eindhoven-based studio Uncooked Shade have been considering of getting along with mates, and questioning the way to create ‘new joyful methods of sitting’. Working with Spanish furnishings model Sancal beneath the codename ‘Get together’, they got here up with the ‘Hyperlink’ couch, and its ‘Loop’ counterpart.
Turning an on a regular basis object right into a sculpture and playground, the system’s gentle cylinders enable totally free sitting and lounging about. They will both keep as a comfortable single ‘Loop’ couch, or be joined as a sequence through the use of as many ‘Hyperlinks’ as desired. As with the entire Dutch studio’s creations, color is essential: every hue has been chosen to play with gentle, shadow and quantity in a bid to govern notion.
In addition to the fastidiously chosen vary of six plain colors, there are a few multicolour variations, and a Designer’s Version upholstered in Uncooked Shade’s ‘Planum’ cloth for the Danish textile firm Kvadrat. Like a patchwork, every Designer’s Version combines three totally different shades of the identical color, taking part in with reds, yellows, blues or greens relying on the choice chosen.
rawcolor.nl
sancal.com
Predominant paintings (high of web page): Eun Jeong Yoo. Interiors: Olly Mason
A model of this text seems within the February 2024 challenge of Wallpaper* – devoted to the Wallpaper* Design Awards 2024 – out there in print, on the Wallpaper* app on Apple iOS, and to subscribers of Apple Information +. Subscribe to Wallpaper* right this moment
Supply: Wallpaper
