Creative design ideas and industry leading technology have always been in harmony for the team at Kartell; using advanced technology to best facilitate the delivery of the ideas of their designers. This twin philosophy is beautifully executed in the launch of the teams new chair collection, Smatrik.
From designer and artist Tokujin Toshioka, the Smatrik collection is clearly defined by its innovative structure that reproduces a three-dimensional effect, bringing extraordinary lightness and refinement to the design.
Available locally through Space Furniture, the three-dimensional mesh of Smatrik is overlapped and crisscrossed, resulting in an eye-catching and supremely comfortable chair. This unique design process is thanks to the particular injection technology Kartell employed in its design, using layers of transparent or batch-dyed polycarbonate to create a single-pressed structure that simulates a wire mesh.
Thanks to the team’s proud research and development process, the difficulty in filling a mould this unique was overcome, making it possible to create, for the first time in plastic and on an industrial scale, a product that boasts unique design, strength, durability, flexibility, and production technology.
“I drew inspiration from 1950s chairs that were made from steel wire,” says designer Tokujin Yoshioka, “Rather than focusing on their exterior look, I chose to create a design that resembled the structure as much as possible using Kartell’s innovative injection moulding technology. The two layers of acrylic resin create a three-dimensional structure in a harmonious blend of shapes and materials that are essential and timeless.”
Smatrik is the next step in Kartell’s ongoing story of collaboration and technological advancement, and joins the ‘ContamiNation’ collection, which the team describes as objects of design excellence that channel the ideas of uniqueness and identity. The Smatrik collection combines Yoshioka’s experimental ideas with Kartell’s sophisticated production technology, with the resulting chair being an ideal solution for any contemporary home, office, café or restaurant.
By challenging Kartell’s production team to develop a sophisticated new process, Yoshioka has designed a chair collection that continues the legacy of creative and technological evolution that has always been a part of Kartell’s DNA.
The Smatrik collection of chairs includes the Matrix Rocking chair with a timber or metal base, and a series of high stools that were launched during Milan Design Week.
Kartell is exclusively thanks to the forward thinking design minds at Space Furniture.
