Photo © Core Studio
During my annual visit to the Dutch Design Week [DDW] I usually visit the main exhibit, Piet Hein Eek and one or two other areas. Every time I’m there in my beloved Eindhoven I notice that a one day visit is just to short. There’s so much to see. In a way it’s one giant lab full of studies, concepts and finished products. It’s so different compared to the Milan design week where you will find so much more finished products. One thing they do have in common is that visiting these design weeks is very inspiring.
During this year’s DDW I paid a visit to the downtown area where you use a map to discover the places where designers show their creations and projects. Nice aspect is that it brings you to places that you would never have found otherwise. Although I’ve lived in Eindhoven for almost 20 years, it was still a pleasant surprise to see all these different spots. The centre has changed so much since I left in the mid eighties.
Pipe chair opening up many possibilities
One of those places where you wouldn’t expect an exhibition is an underground parking lot. Walking down the stairs you wonder what you will encounter this time. Well it was an exhibition called HARDCORE organized by Core Studio. The exhibition forms a stepping stone and platform for young designers to showcase their work and get in contact with new clients. The designers can express themselves with material, form and context.
Photo © Core Studio
One of those designers exhibiting was Lucas Muñoz with a chair made out of pipes called TUBULAR. Lucas is a Spanish designer, artist and craftsman based in Eindhoven and Madrid. He founded enPieza! eStudio in Madrid, with David Tamame.
Now, since 2012, Lucas works on his own from the Netherlands. Making pieces that give a personal view of our artificial environment. With tools such as humour and rawness, his oeuvre encompasses a wide range of typologies ranging from boats and speakers to chairs and lamps.
Photo © upcycleDZINE
The pipe chair is a continuation of Lucas’s earlier development of the narrative possibilities of industrial materials. By taking the form and mechanical properties of these materials as a starting point, he takes the practical means of that material or object and transforms it into an creation with a function that is visually required for a specific environment.
Photo © upcycleDZINE
TUBULAR shows what objects intended for use behind and between walls can turn into. He takes their designed limits and puts these objects in the spotlight with a completely new function and look. Although the upcycled objects retain their character and show what they originally were intended for, the purposeful arrangement under which they are combined gives a higher visual and functional value.
The piece presented here reveals a reinterpretation of matter consumption, which is always very present in the work of Lucas Muñoz. And like with any good upcycle design piece, it makes one look at objects, consumption and waste in a whole new way opening up many possibilities.