The Dutch designer talks to us about his latest works for Magis at Milan Design Week, and shares what it’s like working with the Italian furniture manufacturer.

 

Cyborg Lady (new) – upholstered

Can you tell us about your latest collaboration with Magis?

This year we’re showing further developments with Cyborg and Troy. Both chairs started with a very simple idea. Cyborg is a chair made out of two parts – a very industrial part, and a very craft-oriented part. The legs [of Cyborg] are architectural, simple, high-tech, and repetitive. Very industrial. And then what’s on top of it can be unique, it can be crafted, it can be very soft; it is very human. The idea is to keep on making new editions of this chair, [playing with] this wonderful juxtaposition.

Cyborg Lord (new) – upholstered

So can expect to continue see new developments every year?

Yes, I think with Cyborg the idea is to continue working together, changing half the chair. This year we made an upholstered version of it. I think it adds a lot of possibilities to the chair. Magis is known to do a lot of plastic objects and I think we like to show that Magis is not [just] about plastic; it’s about objects of design quality.

Cyborg, earlier edition with the top half in wood

What about Troy?

Troy is a chair with a 3-dimensional, [decorative] surface hidden inside the product. [We will] keep working on the versatility of this chair. Besides this idea of hidden decoration, we tried to [further explore] the shape and the simplicity of the shape to make it a very versatile chair.

Troy (new)

Can you describe your working relationship with Magis? What do you both have in common?

There are commonalities but there are also quite a few differences. We need to find the right [platform] to work together. We love each other, we respect each other, but it’s difficult… Not all the things [they do] are as near to my [design] language as I might like them to be.

Troy public seating system (new)

[But] I think it’s a company that has a history of being very near to the soul of design. And I think it’s a company that really [looks into] the basic fundaments of design. So it’s great to work with them. And we get good results.

Perazza [Magis’ founder] has got a mind of his own. He’s a man with a wonderful passion for design. And it’s wonderful to connect to that passion. Even if we don’t agree on the fundamentals, we are both not design fundamentalists, and we love to challenge each other to get further, to make things that are worth producing.

Troy star base (new)

Let’s play a quick game of word association. What comes to mind when I say these words?

Milan: Design
Culture: Love
Technology: Magic
Home: Exciting
Sustainability: Essential

Troy (earlier edition)

Magis is available in Australia from Corporate Culture

For more indesignlive coverage of the 2014 Milan design fair visit: indesignlive.com/category/articles/in-review/milan-14