Five Chair & Ten Tables

Conceptual artist Roy McMakin's funny furniture gets a hometown show

Roy McMakin‘s furniture designs aren’t the first to take on conventional assumptions about the distinctions between art and objects. As a trained architect, it’s not surprising that the interdisciplinary artist’s skillful manipulation of details rivals that of a legend like Ettore Sottsass. But where Sottsass used his painstakingly deliberate compositions to playfully reinvent ideas about what furniture can be, McMakin’s studied work makes wry observations …

Ikea, The Book

Sweden's democratic furniture retailer unveils design secrets in a new book

Opening its first store in 1958, Ikea ranks as not just one of the most successful Swedish companies alongside Volvo but was an early pioneer in making good design accessible. Its hard to imagine modern living without the brand’s inexpensive, self-assembled products (and those mysterious leftover screws!). While some of its pieces have begun to turn up at international design auctions, the lusted-after Verner Panton …

Soap Chair

Eero Aarnio launches an update to his renowned 1968 Pastil Chair on a new private-sale site

Getting a “do-over” usually only happens in video games, and it’s even rarer still in the world of design. With Eero Aarnio‘s molded fiberglass Soap Chair, he’s improved on his own classic design, creating a version of his revered 1968 Pastil Chair for today’s lifestyle. The designer says, “I like to keep my design range as wide as possible. For example, the smallest object I …