Thorough Investigation

One of the contemporary design world’s most familiar names, Konstantin Grcic redefines our notions of furniture and the creative process that underlines it

- Konstantin Grcic

For Konstantin Grcic, creation is defined by a careful process of addition as opposed to subtraction. The designer’s works marry an industrial aesthetic with experimental elements; which are a result of in-depth investigations on materials, technologies and production processes, as well as the relationship between human beings and objects. At his Hieronymus exhibition at Galerie Kreo in Paris last year, he displayed spatial furniture that users could physically enter, expanding the concept of what furniture can be. “I’m interested in exploring a new grammar: the culture of objects and furniture and how it relates to changes in society,” he says. “With society changing so much today, we can find new typologies and ways of making furniture. That’s what I find extremely exciting.”

Grcic believes in fertile dialogue between a furniture manufacturer and a designer as they pursue a shared goal – but not without disagreement. For him, the most productive and interesting relationships are those that allow room for discord, where both sides push each other’s limits. Design history is filled with fine examples of such pairings, such as Charlotte Perriand for Cassina, Antonio Citterio for Vitra, Charles and Ray Eames for Herman Miller, and Ettore Sottsass for Knoll.