Lia Forslund

Emeco Parrish Chair

Based on local materials from local manufacturers, Konstantin Grcic matches recycled aluminum and retrieved timber with the bare building, both as fixed and mobile furniture for the Parrish Art Museum. The interior installation includes tables and chairs created in collaboration with American manufacturer Emeco. “The collaboration with Emeco was always an important part of the project, something I had in mind as an obvious choice for the kind of furniture we needed. It is simply the only company I could think of who could bring a nice mix for this interior concept, specialists in aluminum, delivering another kind of material appearance, environmentally sound, perfect for the both indoor and outdoor and being such a truly American company - it was a perfect match“, Grcic continues. “When Konstantin asked me if Emeco would be interested in collaborating with him on the Parrish Art Museum I was thrilled. Konstantin is one of the most innovative and original industrial designers of today”, says Emeco’s CEO Gregg Buchbinder.

“Konstantin’s degree of perfection combined with his analytical rigor made the product development process deliberate and thoughtful. He managed to leverage our heritage and at the same time push Emeco into the future.The Parrish Chair reminds me of something Le Corbusier might have designed in the 1920’s; yet at the same time, it looks fresh, modern, and original – it’s a real artifact of our current culture, a future classic”, Buchbinder continues.

“I have always had a fascination and admiration of the hard physical labor of the production of the Emeco’s iconic Navy chair. My ambition for the collaboration was, therefore, to do something that uses the same aluminum work but make the process more effective, less physically challenging. I think the design of the Parrish chair comes from a close understanding of what Emeco really can do”, says Konstantin.

“Developing the mobile interiors for the Parrish museum brings us to the peculiar psychology around chairs used in public spaces – exploring the idea of comfort and non-comfort. The best you can give someone in a public space is a chair that really feels like a chair. Considering the public self-awareness in a museum seat, the Parrish chair was given a round tube, forming a belt that defines the space around you - a space where you can feel protected. The chair is also spacious, achieved using very little material. Put together the pine on the aluminum chair looks almost like tractor seat, which has something old fashioned and genuine about it. At the final installation the Parrish chairs are strong individuals, yet the collection, I must say, looks even greater in multiplication. A density of tube forms composed in a very nice subtle way, an astonishing view in numbers“, Konstantin concludes.

Press Includes:
New York Times, Paris at the Parrish, by Arlene Hirst
Fast Company, Outdoor Furniture Designed For More Comfort, Less Waste
Abitare, Grcic | Emeco @ Bar Basso
Designo, Konstantin Grcic on the Parrish Collection
Designboom, Konstantin Grcic: parrish collection for emeco
Dezeen, Parrish by Konstantin Grcic for Emeco
Domus, Konstantin Grcic / Emeco