By way of unwinding ahead of his forthcoming solo exhibition at the Vitra Design Museum, German designer Konstantin Grcic is currently presenting an absolutely beguiling collection of glass furniture objects at Galerie Kreo Paris.
We've not actually seen the objects, we've only seen the press photos, and as any fool know press photos are not the most reliable media for assessing design objects.
But.....
Created in collaboration with a sadly unnamed Frankfurt glass workshop - why must the workshop remain unnamed, have Grcic and Kreo not achieved what they achieved thanks to this company's skill and experience? Were they not part of the creative process? - the fascinating aspect about the Man Machine collection is less the material and more the fact that each object has been endowed with a mechanical functionality.
The lounge chair is a reclining lounge chair.
The height of the shelf in the vitrine can be adjusted.
The side table is collapsible
Or in the, for us, stand out object of the collection the vertical supports in the bookcase can be be moved horizontally thus allowing for storage space of differing widths.
This functionality is achieved through a less than diplomatic pneumatic piston, yet despite this in your face industrial reality the objects retain a fragility, an accessibility and for all a beauty that is as charming as it is engaging.
The last "transparent" furniture objects with a deliberate, visible, industrial chic we saw were part of the Tools for Life collection by OMA for Knoll. Many of them however had a graceless, nouveau riche, arrogance about them that the Man Machine collection simply doesn't have. The Man Machine objects posses that self-concious subtly that all good furniture designs, and indeed people, understand.
But as we say we've only seen the press photos.
Should we make it to Paris before the show ends on May 17th we will let you know how they hold up "in the flesh."
Or should you visit the show, please let us know what you thought.
Man Machine by Konstantin Grcic runs at Galerie Kreo, 31, rue Dauphine, 75006 Paris until Saturday May 17th 2014
Full details can be found at http://galeriekreo.fr
