Partly Cloudy, 64°
Jan Eriksson, the project manager at the Swedish design firm Future Future, is enthusiastic about the renovations. “I’ve been working very hard on this new chair, the Spike," he said. “It’s basically a very large spike. I would submit it to an art gallery, but I think it has greater functional purposes than that.”
Students were excited to hear last Friday that the Perry and Marty Granoff Center for the Creative Arts has incorporated new, even edgier furniture into its study spaces. According to Granoff directors, the center is breaking new ground in the use of furniture that is perspective-challenging and very painful to sit on.
He added, "I’ve also been sketching out a design for a chair with no seat or backrest—it’s just a frame. And it’s on fire.”
Students seem to be welcoming the new furniture with open arms. “One of my favorite study spots in Granoff is this assemblage of two large beanbag chairs submerged in quicksand,” said Connor Mullen ’16. “You really just sink into them forever. Also, it brings to mind ideas surrounding a consumerist obsession with gratification that is really just a slow, hedonistic suicide.”
Mullen also noted the intriguing upside-down chaise lounges on the ceilings, but could not comment further because he has never actually been able to sit in them.
Other designers from Future Future, such as Veronica Stace, are bringing ideas of permanence and decomposition to their designs for furniture that people will presumably one day have to sit in. “Some designers shy away from paper, but I’m adamant about completing a life-size origami futon," said Stace. “If it’s not approved, I might just have to settle for a hot dog sofa. No mustard.”
“I can’t wait to curl up in the medieval spinning wheel," commented Jane Campbell ’15, who frequently visits the Granoff Center’s unique study spaces. "Until then, I’ll just have to settle for the giant corkscrew in my dorm.”
