Flora Contemporaria
An homage to Josef Frank's iconic Flora Cabinet, Flora Contemporaria showcases a limited edition collection of unique pieces developed specially for our solo presentation with Twenty First Gallery at DesignMiami 2021.
Retracing nature's influences in contemporary design, we have reconsidered pieces designed by the famous Austrian modernist Josef Frank in the early 1930s for the Swedish company Svenskt Tenn. The original works that inspired us combined traditional cabinetmaking with a new approach towards ornamentation. According to design researchers, the idea of using floral prints as external decoration on furniture occurred to Svenskt Tenn's founder, Estrid Ericson, after visiting the summer home of the famed 18th-century botanist, Carl Linnaeus, in Hammarby near Uppsala, Sweden. The series of cabinets she produced with Frank featured reproductions of botanical plates from Carl Lindman's Nordens Flora, a book on plants of the Nordic region. The cabinets formed a sort of three-dimensional herbariums that proudly stated their country of origin.
Rephrasing these references through our own material vocabulary, we have created four distinct collectable pieces that came to life through thoroughly researched techniques continuously developed in our studio. With influences drawn from the same source, each cabinet is a unique, autonomous piece made using a variety of different materials and processes, spanning from our unique Flora Temporaria and Flora Perma, where specially selected flowers are carefully submerged in resin, to Protoplasting Nature, where large exotic leaves are metallised in bronze in a bespoke thermo-coating process.
Displayed against a blue background conceived by scenographer Jean de Piepape, the four pieces created a full-colour gradient, ranging from black to bronze, and from white and opaque to translucent amber. The collection also allowed us to work with previously unexplored materials such as solid wood or polished stainless steel, and, following the modernist premise, was designed down to the most minuscule of details, as exemplified by the door knobs in Flora Credenza 190 Clear Amber, made with metallised celosia flowers.
Retracing nature's influences in contemporary design, we have reconsidered pieces designed by the famous Austrian modernist Josef Frank in the early 1930s for the Swedish company Svenskt Tenn. The original works that inspired us combined traditional cabinetmaking with a new approach towards ornamentation. According to design researchers, the idea of using floral prints as external decoration on furniture occurred to Svenskt Tenn's founder, Estrid Ericson, after visiting the summer home of the famed 18th-century botanist, Carl Linnaeus, in Hammarby near Uppsala, Sweden. The series of cabinets she produced with Frank featured reproductions of botanical plates from Carl Lindman's Nordens Flora, a book on plants of the Nordic region. The cabinets formed a sort of three-dimensional herbariums that proudly stated their country of origin.
Rephrasing these references through our own material vocabulary, we have created four distinct collectable pieces that came to life through thoroughly researched techniques continuously developed in our studio. With influences drawn from the same source, each cabinet is a unique, autonomous piece made using a variety of different materials and processes, spanning from our unique Flora Temporaria and Flora Perma, where specially selected flowers are carefully submerged in resin, to Protoplasting Nature, where large exotic leaves are metallised in bronze in a bespoke thermo-coating process.
Displayed against a blue background conceived by scenographer Jean de Piepape, the four pieces created a full-colour gradient, ranging from black to bronze, and from white and opaque to translucent amber. The collection also allowed us to work with previously unexplored materials such as solid wood or polished stainless steel, and, following the modernist premise, was designed down to the most minuscule of details, as exemplified by the door knobs in Flora Credenza 190 Clear Amber, made with metallised celosia flowers.
| YEAR: 2021 |
COLLABORATORS: Marcin Rusak Tamara Pilawska Baranowska Renaud Vuaillat Jean de Piepape |
PHOTO CREDITS: Courtesy of Twenty First Gallery |
LOCATION: Miami, USA |
