At the Stockholm Furniture and Lighting Fair 2020, Finnish brand Artek has unveiled Rope Chair and Tupla Wall Hook by Ronan & Erwan Bouroullec. Artek stands for the union of art and technology, for bringing together industrial production with artistic sensibility. From its earliest days, Artek has pursued what Bauhaus founder Walter Gropius famously referred to as a “new unity” between the two spheres. In 2020, the company continues this tradition with two new products by Ronan & Erwan Bouroullec. The French brothers – who also created Artek’s Kaari collection – are known as much for their technical expertise as for their graceful artistry, both of which are on display in their latest designs. Surprising silhouettes meet sophisticated constructions in a synthesis of art and technology as fresh today as it was when Artek was founded.
More like a silhouette than a solid block, the Rope Chair is a line drawing translated into three dimensions, a simple artistic gesture rendered in space. Designed by Ronan & Erwan Bouroullec, the chair is a synthesis of contrasts: sophisticated engineering and creative expression, solid structure and flexible elements, stiff tubes and pliable rope.
Made for marine use, the rope is at the heart of the chair’s unexpected comfort; a weight-bearing part of the construction, it allows the chair to adapt to those who use it. Where other chairs dictate a specific way of sitting, the Rope Chair invites creativity in posture, encouraging dynamic movement and changes in position. When the sitter rises, the chair’s frame bears the traces of the body it last supported, the imprint of a user who co-defines its shape.
Available in black or light grey, Rope Chair has a steel tubing frame and a seat made of form-pressed beech plywood and ash veneer. Its most prominent feature – the rope – is made of black polyester or natural flax, depending on the colour version.
A hook is a storage fundamental, a simple tool for hanging objects on the wall. Some wall hooks can also be ornaments, decorative details that add beauty where they are hung. The Tupla Wall Hook is just such a hook; its twin loops – Tupla means “double” in Finnish – are as lyrical as they are functional. Made of black powder coated die-cast zinc, the hook has the air of a line drawing brought into three dimensions, a simple sketch, translated into space.
