It’s normal for furniture designers to find inspiration from some pretty unusual sources. We’ve seen things that were inspired by nature, pop culture, art, architecture, and sometimes even science fiction. Sometimes we even get companies that are not necessarily furniture makers to create a line inspired by their original products to commemorate something or just because they can. It’s always interesting to see these kinds of collaborations and now we’re getting chairs inspired by the most unlikely of things: pans.
Designer: Philippe Starck for Alessi
Italian brand Alessi is mostly known for their kitchenware like coffee machines, toasters, and cutlery among other things. They have now created a furniture line in collaboration with French industrial architect and designer Philippe Starck. We’ve seen the latter’s minimalist yet unique designs on various furniture and now we’re seeing his vision applied to the Poêle Collection, a series of furniture that is uniquely inspired by Alessi’s frying pans. What we get are chairs, stools, and a coat rack that look sleek and contemporary.
The furniture are mostly made from metal elements, just like their frying pans for which the collection is named after. Because of the material, the furniture have a fluid look and mirror polish to it and it looks like anyone sitting might slide off at one point. The wooden elements help keep it grounded and adds an organic component to the furniture line. You get two kinds of chairs, a high stool, and a low stool, all using brown dye beech wood as their structure. There’s also a hanger coat stand that is mostly wood but has chrome-plated metal mirrors as inserts.
This collaboration has been twenty years in the making. Alberto Alessi says he has been trying to create something with Starck, asking if it was possible to create something using their cold-press metal high-technology. What started out as apparently a serious joke is now a reality and made its debut at the Milan Design Week. If your house has an industrial or metal aesthetic, then the Poêle Collection would look right at home there.
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