Day Two of Interior Design Week continues with several modern takes on 18th century forms. These pieces are admittedly concept-heavy works of art rather than usable household goods. But the Rococo aesthetic is not exactly a grounded one, n'est-ce pas?
Exhibit A: Staffan Holm and Johannes Tjernberg's CEO desk. "We created the desk bound by the structural laws of LEGO-building bricks, combined this with the grace of the late Rococo furniture style and painted it glossy black to evoke feelings of exclusivity and power." Made of solid beech and painted with enamel, the desk is a study in contrasts: ancien curves and modern materials, innocent child and cut-throat executive. (Sure, you might find neo-Rococo forms at Ikea - but they're like empty vessels. It's the philosophy that we silly design addicts open our wallets for...)
Exhibit B: Smånsk's "Neo Rococo" side table and chest of drawers. The Stockholm designers simplified ornate details into their most basic forms: "We lowered the resolution and numbers of polygons in models of authentic rococo furniture." The result: modern, pixelated versions of period furniture.
Similarly, SalaD's Che mangino brioche table and floor lamp (above) "blend Rococo opulence with digital austerity." Joris Laarman's "Heatwave" is a radiator sculpted from ornate Rococo swirls of concrete. "Like all good designs, Heatwave scored high marks both for form and function: stylistically capturing the romantic mood of the moment, and conducting heat more efficiently than a conventional metal radiator."
Some of you asked for sources of inspiration; one of my favorite contemporary design/architecture sites is MoCoLoco. And keep checking La Carmina - many more neo-Rococo designs will be posted this week.
