In March 2012 we wrote about the Depot Basel show "Seats" which included a section devoted to the "Take a Seat" project run by Zurich based design studio Aekae in co-operation with the Zurich cafe "Z am Park"
In essence "Take a Seat" involves commissioning contemporary designers to "re-work" four Horgenglarus 1-380 chairs. The results are then used for 6 months in Z am Park before being auctioned off to the highest bidder.
The interesting aspect, or one of the interesting aspects, of the project is that if the designers didn't pimp the 1-380s no one would look twice at them. Resembling as they do "normal" cafe chairs. The sort of wooden chair you'd expect to find in a cafe. The archetypal wooden chair as it were.
Indeed when Jasper Morrison created his Basel Chair for Vitra as a modern, synthetic, re-interpretation of a classic wooden chair, he took the Horgenglarus 1-380 as his muse.
However just as with Michael Thonet's Chair No 14 the apparently ineffable normality of a form everyone knows disguises a fascinating and genuinely innovative piece work that when launched in 1918 set new standards and even inspired a young Le Corbusier. And which make the Horgenglarus 1-380 one of the genuine classics of Swiss furniture design. And one of the most successful pieces of Swiss furniture ever developed.
A success and status that is maintained today through the simple mastery of the design and Horgenglarus's unflinching loyalty to the original hand-finished, bentwood construction principle.
And a success which means that much like USM Haller Horgenglarus are in the enviable position of not having to continually release ever new products. They have the definitive.
However Horgenglarus do and over the decades have undertaken co-operations with some of the most important Swiss furniture designers including Max Bill, Werner Max Moser, Max Ernst Haefeli and most recently Hannes Wettstein. Co-operations which have produced a collection of chairs every bit as elegant and understated as the classic 1-380.
While through the input from the likes of Nicolas Le Moigne, Jörg Boner or Frédéric Dedelley in the context of "Take a Seat" the 1-380 remains contemporary, relevant and at the forefront of Swiss design.
Which of course is, as Le Corbusier preached, where it belongs. Even if no one recognises it.
At IMM Cologne 2013 Horgenglarus did what they do best - presented a series of simple, charming wooden chairs. Here a few impressions....
