Joris Laarman - Design London Wednesday, November 2, 2022 | Phillips

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  • Evolutionary Design


    At the inception of Joris Laarman's ‘Bone’ armchair is the fascinating research on the growth of trees and bones. Both efficiently optimise their mass quantity at specific points, in function of where strength and support are required. This principle was also at the heart of the dynamic digital tool created by German engineer Professor Lothar Harzeim and Adam Opel GmbH which mimicked these growth patterns to improve car parts production. For Laarman, this software 'opened up an entire world of possibilities' and compelled him and his Netherlands-based studio Joris Laarman Lab to develop the ‘Bone Furniture’ series. 

     

    The remarkable functionality of the software’s algorithm when applied to furniture design is that it eliminates unneeded material without weakening the objects. In the initial projection stage, mass is removed from a block of virtual material out of which the load bearing parts of the armchair are also carved out. This digital sculpting informs the construction and appearance of the piece well before it comes to life. 

     

    In the present lot, the tangible outcome of this process manifests as a beautiful and efficient web of negative space throughout the armchair. Laarman describes this intelligent process as a marked shift from the industrial era into the digital era. ‘Industrial times and modernist pioneers were all about assembly and standardised parts in a geometric form language dictated by the limitations of industrial machines. In our digital era, however, we are no longer bound by these limitations. With digital design and fabrication tools we can create smarter customised forms that are much more complex.’

     

    Close-up of the components of the armchair’s 91-part mould 
    Photo: Joris Laarman Lab

    In awe of the possibilities afforded by technology, Joris Laarman Lab chose to cast the present lot in a single piece from a 3-D printed 91-part mould. The armchair is a successor to the paper and aluminium models all of which had their own challenges. This piece too was a result of experimentation. Having initially attempted to make it with ground old bone-china coffee cups mixed with casting resin, the result was not what they were expecting. They opted instead for carrara marble powder which gives the pieces its stunning porcelain-like smoothness. 

     

    The present model armchair being removed from its mould
    Photo: Adriaan de Groot

    By using as little material as possible and as much as necessary, the ‘Bone’ armchair is an ode to the complexity of science which can be harnessed to create an at once aesthetically minimalist and materially imposing object. In the designer’s words 'our digital age makes it possible to not just use nature as a stylistic reference, but to use the underlying principles to generate shapes just like an evolutionary process.

     

    Caption: ‘Bone’ armchair
    Photo: Joost van Brug

    As a recognition of Laarman’s ground-breaking design process, this model chair is part of the permanent collection of the High Museum of Art, Atlanta, US.

     

    The making process of the ‘Bone’ armchair
    Video: Joris Laarman Lab / Anita Star

    • Provenance

      Friedman Benda, New York
      Acquired from the above by the present owner, 2008

    • Literature

      Anita Star, ed., Joris Laarman Lab, exh. cat., Groninger Museum, Groninger, 2015, pp. 74-75, 94-101
      Anita Star, ed., Joris Laarman Lab, exh. cat., Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, New York, 2017, pp. 64-65, 82-89, 313

PROPERTY FROM AN IMPORTANT EUROPEAN COLLECTION

55

'Bone' armchair

2007
Carrara marble, casting resin.
73.4 x 100.2 x 77.7 cm (28 7/8 x 39 1/2 x 30 5/8 in.)
Produced by Joris Laarman Lab, Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Number 2 from the edition of 12 plus 3 artist's proofs and 1 prototype. Underside impressed with facsimile signature Joris Laarman and 2/12.

Full Cataloguing

Estimate
£150,000 - 200,000 ‡♠

Sold for £163,800

Contact Specialist

Antonia King
Head of Sale, Design
+44 20 7901 7944
Antonia.King@phillips.com

Design

London Auction 2 November 2022