These days I’m loving the way certain designers are pushing the limits of materiality and texture in their designs. I came across 36-year-old desinger Oskar Zieta this morning when I read FRAME’s story about Zieta’s exhibition in Milan where his aluminum furniture appeared to be floating away by helium balloons. Here’s what FRAME had to say about the show:
Polish designer Oskar Zieta, 36, suspended the installation between heaven and earth. He used 100 limited edition Plopp™ stools and Pin™ hangers in aluminium with special pearl finishes. The pieces were designed using FiDU technology, or ‘Free Inner Pressure Deformation,’ which is Zieta’s research specialty. Applying the FiDU technique to aluminium makes it light and easy to transport. More specifically, FiDU researches metal sheet stabilization. Using inner pressure it’s able to examine the material behaviour of an item and its unique bends, leading to an ultra-lightweight product. Zieta says he wanted the space to be filled with pearly textures and jewel tones, as if in an Istanbul bazaar. The aluminium chairs were suspended by shimmery helium-filled balloons. Guests were invited to reach out, touch and feel the chairs. The exhibit was help in collaboration with the Cardi Black Box and curated by Maria Cristina Didero and Art at Work.
Reminiscent of Jeff Koons amazing work (and I’m sorry, but anyone who discounts Koons work has no clue what they’re talking about), Oskar is making an incredible contribution to industrial design and manufacturing. When I looked further into Zieta’s career I learned more about his other impressive work including a beautiful, spikey, blow-up stainless steel installation he created for online design products showcase Architonic at this year’s IMM Cologne™ in Cologne, Germany. I’ve attached those pics at the very bottom of the post, right after the images of his “floating” Plopp™ stool installation from Milan. To learn more about Oskar’s Milan installation visit FRAME, and to get more info on Oskar’s company just head over to Zieta.pl (all Milan images courtesy of Oskar Zieta, and Architonic photos courtesy of gee-ly).
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