EuroDesignExhibition: Alexander Gufler

We can all describe and define a country in terms of food, music or footballing ability.

But can designers define their country through a stool?

The exhibition “Sit down please” 40 Stools from 40 Countries” in Düsseldorf will attempt to answer the question?

Austria will be represented by Alexander Gufler. How will Alexander handle the challenge? Habsburg excess? Art deco aesthetic? Michael Thonet minimalism?

When I received the invitation from Anonym Gestalter I started by thinking about where I had seen stools in use, and fairly quickly came to my childhood. I grew up in Südtirol and so as a child was often on alpine farms, and there the stool is principally used in the form of a milking stool.

And so I took the classic three-legged milking stool as my starting point, because it is closely associated with Austria’s rural tradition.

For me it was important that the project should use the same processes with which traditional alpine farm furniture is created; and so the use of turned wooden elements and tenon joints was very important. However the stool has been designed to reflect both traditional and contemporary aesthetic.

The wood used is ash that originates from a park in Vienna.

We just hope that he asked for permission first !!

Alexander Gufler’s interpretation on a traditional Austrian milking stool, and all other EuroDesignExhibition entries can be viewed at Teilmöbliert, Lorettostrasse 9, 40219 Düsseldorf from May 6th – 20th.

And we will report from the public awards event on May 13th

More information and a complete list of competitors can be found at:

http://www.anonymegestalter.de/

http://www.teilmoebliert.com/