Salone del Mobile 2016 preview – Knoll Gold edition

Mar

Salone del Mobile 2016 preview – Knoll Gold edition

At Salone del Mobile 2016, Knoll will introduce a gold edition of iconic Bertoia Diamond and Platner chairs. The best of Milan Furniture Fair 2016 incoming! In celebration of the Harry Bertoia Centennial, Knoll presents the Bertoia Diamond Chair in an 18 karat gold-plated finish. The Harry Bertoia Centennial is Knoll’s year-long celebration of the life and work of Harry Bertoia.

Recognized worldwide for his groundbreaking furniture designs for Knoll, Bertoia was primarily a sculptor. Immensely prolific, he is estimated to have created tens of thousands of sculptures over the course of his life, taking the form of screens, panels, mobiles and free-standing sculptures. Among the latter were his Sonambient works, designed to produce unusual sonic experiences at the touch of a hand or the sway of a breeze.

Bertoia’s Sonambient sculptures also provided the inspiration for the release of the Bertoia Diamond Chair in gold. Knoll Design Director Benjamin Pardo explains the choice through a description of Bertoia’s material preferences. “Harry’s own work was mostly done in beryllium,” Pardo states, “including many of his Sonambient sculptures.”

Beryllium is a copper alloy traditionally used to make non-sparking tools for working with a live current. A metalworker, Bertoia became interested in the material for its relatively low density and high elasticity — 50% more elastic than steel — which resulted in unusually fast sound conduction and a consistent tone and timbre. The alloy was well suited for Bertoia’s formal experiments, through which he strove to emulate shapes and sounds of the natural world.

The parallels between Bertoia’s furniture and sculptures go further than material alone. Bertoia saw his furniture as an extension of the principles and considerations of his sculptural work: “In sculpture, I am concerned primarily with space, form and the characteristics of metal. In the chairs, many functional challenges have to be solved first […] but when you get right down to it, the chairs are studies in space, form and metal, too.”

In celebration of the 50th anniversary of thePlatner Collection, Knoll is proud to announce Platner Gold, an 18k gold-plated finish option. The finish, plated in Italy, is available for the Platner Lounge Chair, Platner Arm Chair, Platner Stool, Platner Dining Table, Platner Coffee Table and Platner Side Table.

The Platner Collection was designed in 1966 by architect Warren Platner, who intended it to be gold-plated. However, the technology of the time made gold plating in large-scale production impossible, leading to the nickel-plated steel known today. The 2015 issue of Platner Gold fulfills Platner’s original wish.

The pieces in the Platner Collection are each made up of hundreds of individual welds, all soldered by hand, resulting in forms that recall “sheafs of wheat.” Platner favored more expressive and shapely designs than those generally called for by other brands of modernism.

Now, imagine if you could have the chance to add other limited editions collections to furnish all your entire home like the following one! See the video and let your imagination get wings: