In life, a desire for realism is for sure a good start. But quickly in one’s travels one realizes that a personal reality when shared looks very dissimilar to another’s. Often one’s own reality appears as a perplexing fantasy to the other, and vice versa. So, we are constantly left feeling disenfranchised having to keep our idiosyncratic natures private whilst participating in the most anemic and flat interactions. But in a way (if you can be like spiritual about it 🙄) this is fine, because this situation is true for everybody, so the absolute difference is the absolute sameness (kind of cold comfort though). Jumping ahead in this sequence, we’d say that the height of expressing this universal subjectivity is through the imaginative act. And sincere expressions of imagination are a salve to the ache of constant isolation.
        The locale of furniture (or the applied arts) is a great area for the imaginative expression as it is less expected than in the fine arts, where it is requisite and can often feel rote or remote. Utility keeps furniture from being mere sculpture, and the imagination can keep furniture (and reality 😉) from being invisible (and thus dangerous 🙄).
        This fecund tension between utility and imaginative expression in the applied arts is all over the DNA project featured here. Really, this site runneth over with poetic, imaginative expression. It is also worth mentioning that gathered here is quite an insane roster of designers: Max Lamb, Gaetano Pesce, Hella Jongerius, François Bauchet, Rick Owens… sheesh. Anyway 😘👌

Also of note: Max Lamb: 60 Chairs