Acrylic in design and furniture – second part

Kartell chair n.4875 and Louis Ghost chairs, Kartell

We can also recall the success of Kartell, wich made plastics its workhorse proposing it as a valid alternative to glass for its lightness, resistance and cheapness; today this success is still witnessed by one of the wider stand around the Salone del Mobile fair; in this stand the atmosphere that fills you is that of a past yet modern (first successful pieces are the one of the Seventies) and a modern which sometimes remind us the importance of the past (as the famous chair Louis Ghost, with its baroque shapes). Even today, it is enough to take a ride at the Salone del Mobile fair in Milan, or simply at the Fuori Salone (events and exhibitions that animate the entire city of Milan during the design week), to realize that the plastic in all its forms, including PMMA, it is still the unquestioned leader.

 

credits:

http://www.kartell.it/global.aspx

Acrylic in design and furniture – first part

methacrylate design origin; bed-room furniture for Helena Rubinstein by Ladislas Medgyès

 

PMMA, an industrial plastic material that was patented in the ’30s in Germany, was used as a new material for applications in the field of design already from the ’40s. In the interior design world, first successfull PMMA application results can be traced back to Ladislas  Medgyès, who disegned bed-room furniture for Helena Rubinstein  and to Lorin Jackson, who designed the furniture for Grosfeld House.  But it is in the early 60s that designers start to exploit the advantages of plastics:  the freedom of designing in various forms and a wide range of colors and finishes instead of an inexpensive and easy-to-use replacement for another material.