Furniture without expiration date
No matter which furnishing trend is currently taking hold: the design classics keep out of it. As if they were exalted above everything that has an expiration date. They have reached their final form and enjoy species protection. Somewhere between cult and commodity. The names of their inventors stand for their noble origin: Mies van der Rohe, Ray and Charles Eames, Marcel Breuer, Arne Jacobsen, Isamu Noguchi, Eileen Gray or Patricia Urquiola. But how does a piece of furniture become a classic? That's not so easy. The design must earn the award itself, it must manage to inspire more than a generation. Like the famous Thonet chair "214" from 1859. If a piece of furniture is still young - ie only on the way to immortality - it should convince through its uniqueness, be groundbreaking in form, in workmanship or in material.
Design classics have to be nice, but not necessarily comfortable
Many of these crisis-proof, but sometimes quite idiosyncratic homes are indeed standard furniture, but actually they are divas. Want to be the center of attention, to stay unforgettable. Are reserved, but present. Rather Kate Winslet as Madonna. Comfort is not necessarily one of the idiosyncrasies of these silent superstars. In the cube-shaped leather armchair "Grand Confort" by Le Corbusier small people can not put their arms at shoulder height on the side rests and at the same time look relaxed. The upholstery of "Antibodi", a lounger of the Spanish designer Patricia Urquiola, unfolds an ingenious flower splendor of felt and leather. She is not comfortable. It does not matter anyway. Should the eyes rest on her?
Which does not mean that design classics would only be recognizable by their discomfort. In Charles Eames' "Lounge Chair" - a softly padded wooden shell - you fall as in Abraham's lap, and the futuristic plastic seat "Terminal 1" by Jean-Marie Massaud is much more comfortable than it looks.
In the 80s, the design broke out with us. Those who kept to themselves ate their designer noodles with designer cutlery at the designer's table. Some classics were multiplying wildly: the curved steel tube chairs by Marcel Breuer, the glass round side table by Eileen Gray, and the loom chairs by Lloyd Loom. To this day, they are in stores where they really do not belong. Inflationary. Cheap copies just.
Timelessly beautiful: design classics
Lounger "Antibodi" by Spanish designer Patricia Urquiola
Still, the time was ripe for designs that were previously only interested in a small group of architects and art lovers. The Germans liberated themselves from the muff of the postwar period. The Gelsenkirchen Baroque landed on the garbage. Steel, glass, plastic were announced. But they spread everything but a comfortable living. And many design fans quickly realized the meaning of Mies van der Rohe's legendary saying "less is more". Too many divas steal each other's show. But a chosen piece ennobles every room, attracts admiring glances.
Saarinen's white tulip table, for example, makes an old oak cabinet shine like a groom. The famous "Ant Chair" by Arne Jacobsen makes every Occasion Table an eye-catcher and the corduroy "Vermelha" by Fernando and Humberto Campana just fun. Nevertheless, the question remains: Does it always have to be upscale interior? Or can Ikea's "Billy" shelf, which in the meantime serves its services nondescriptly in almost every apartment, also become a classic? Answer: "Billy" is a classic - in its price category. And on the market for 40 years. Maybe "Billy" is even the king among the modern classics, at least in terms of the edition. And the nice thing about him is: "Billy" is allowed to duzen.
