Konstantin Grcic reinvents the concept of furniture
ONE OF THE CONTEMPORARY DESIGN WORLD’S MOST FAMILIAR NAMES, KONSTANTIN GRCIC REDEFINES OUR NOTIONS OF FURNITURE AND THE CREATIVE PROCESS THAT UNDERLINES IT
For Konstantin Grcic, creation is defined by a careful process of addition as opposed to subtraction. The designer’s works marry an industrial aesthetic with experimental elements; they’re the result of in-depth investigations of materials, technologies and production processes, as well as the relationship between human beings and objects. At his Hieronymus exhibition at Galerie Kreo in Paris last year, he displayed spatial furniture that users could physically enter, expanding the concept of what furniture can be. “I’m interested in exploring a new grammar: the culture of objects and furniture and how it relates to changes in society,” he says. “With society changing so much today, we can find new typologies and ways of making furniture. That’s what I find extremely exciting.” Grcic believes in fertile dialogue between a furniture manufacturer and a designer as they pursue a shared goal—but not without disagreement. For him, the most productive and interesting relationships are those that allow room for discord, where both sides push each other’s limits. Design history is filled with fine examples of such pairings, such as Charlotte Perriand for Cassina, Antonio Citterio for Vitra, Charles and Ray Eames for Herman Miller, and Ettore Sottsass for Knoll.
Over the course of his career, Grcic’s most fruitful collaboration has been with Magis; the Chair One was the first product he designed for the brand in 2003. His latest work, the cast-iron Ettore doorstop that depicts the company’s symbolic mule, was launched in 2016 as part of Magis’ 40th-anniversary collection. “Magis has become my closest client and we’ve been working in a very intense and productive way,” says Grcic. “The family-run business was founded by Eugenio Perazza and I deal with him most of the time. He’s an ideal partner—someone who challenges me in a way that I feel I do my best work for him. I can do better work for him than on my own. It’s a special relationship.”
CONTEMPLATIVE CREATION
Grcic’s creative process starts with weeks of solo contemplation and concentration. “For me, inspiration is derived from everyday life, from being out on the street and having an open mind,” he says. “Observation is a very important tool, but so is listening. It’s a form of collecting as much information as possible without preconceptions or immediate selection. Afterwards, the filtering happens when I have a head full of things and ideas. Like a Rubik’s Cube, I turn it, play with it, shift one thing to the front and the other to the back.” After working his way to the essence of an idea, Grcic then considers the context of his client: its technology, its markets and its previous collections. “It’s my interpretation of who the client is,” he says. “Part of this process is not just to conform to what the clients can do; sometimes we need to push their boundaries.” Once the collaboration begins, it becomes a team effort. “The moment other people are involved, the project flows quite easily because ideas can be bounced off others,” he says. “In terms of production, I’m really keen to understand where the efficiency of a project is, but also where there may be opportunities where I can change things, break out of the rules and the efficiency—and even find a new efficiency.”
INDUSTRIAL ORIGINS
Born in 1965 in Munich, Grcic was raised in the industrial city of Wuppertal, known for its textiles in the 19th century. “It was a great place to grow up,” he recalls. “It’s a workingclass city, so people there are honest and have a good sense of humour. The architectural reality of this city was very much influenced by the industrial buildings. This has shaped certain ideas of mine and a love for a kind of industrial aesthetic.” Grcic was also heavily influenced by his mother’s work as a gallerist. “Visiting artists in their studios or having artists staying at our house was an influence on my sister and me from very early on. As a kid, I didn’t think of my future too much, but I felt that artists had an incredible privilege in that they combined work and life. They were my role models and that’s something I’ve always wanted: to make work part of my life and not have a separation between the two.” To dive directly into practical work, Grcic chose to learn a craft. In the 1980s, he apprenticed as a cabinetmaker in England at the John Makepeace School for Craftsmen in Wood, awakening a passion for making furniture. However, it was only after his sister sent him the catalogue of an exhibition on Achille Castiglioni that he considered becoming a designer. After graduating with a master’s degree in industrial design from the Royal College of Art in London in 1990, he worked for renowned designer Jasper Morrison, whose oeuvre influenced Grcic’s early designs. Another important encounter during his student days was with Italian designer-architect Vico Magistretti. “I learned from them that design is not just a skill, but an attitude—a very critical attitude that questions things,” he says. “You question what is it that you want to create and if it’s even necessary, because maybe it already exists. It’s trying to find the very essential reason for what you do—the necessity, the justification.” In 1991, Grcic established his eponymous practice in Munich, where he works today on 10 to 15 projects at any given time. Together with his team of five, he creates
“INSPIRATION IS DERIVED FROM EVERYDAY LIFE, FROM BEING OUT ON THE STREET AND HAVING AN OPEN MIND,”
furniture, products and lighting for the likes of Cappellini, Cassina, Emeco, Established & Sons, Flos, Moroso, Muji and Vitra. He has also worked on commissions for clients including Audi, Brioni, Camper, Design Miami and Herzog & de Meuron Architects. Grcic’s understated designs showcase intelligence and humour in equal measures, as well as a passion for technology and materials. His works are housed in the permanent collections of the Centre Pompidou in Paris, London’s Victoria and Albert Museum, Germany’s Vitra Design Museum in Weil am Rhein and New York City’s Museum of Modern Art.
NEW HORIZONS
“What I’m interested in at the moment is a slightly larger scale of project—in terms of dimension but also in complexity,” says Grcic. “I’m finding the public domain much more exciting than the residential one. In public, you have all the friction, conflict and disruption of our society. I’m currently working on a small-scale project for public use. Here in Europe, we have a huge issue with refugees and immigration, and a very urgent need for an infrastructure for these people, but I can’t go into more detail because that would put pressure on the project.” From designing a prefabricated cabin for Muji to the conception of the basic navigation and sleeping areas on board a Hugo Boss
racing yacht used by British sailor Alex Thomson for the 2016-17 Vendée Globe—a non-stop solo around-the-world race, in which he finished the runner-up— Grcic revels in the variety of work that design affords him. However, he has never been attracted to interior design, admitting, “Industrial design allows for small structures like mine, whereas interior design projects are usually very intense for a certain time, which would be too much for my team. I’d have to sacrifice the variety of projects we can normally do all at the same time.” Currently, the Grcic team is working on projects (primarily furniture) for all the usual suspects, as well as a major commission for cinema seating for a cinema owner. “It’s exciting because it involves designing seating for a very specific use,” he says. “With other chairs, you never know how they’ll be used, but here, we know exactly that. One aspect of design is giving shape or form, but the other much more important aspect is looking at the larger picture of what it is we’re doing and trying to find the opportunities that are in the project—creating something better, different or new.” For more information, visit konstantin-grcic.com.