Furniture Society Wants Your Prototypes
A broad call for entries for a summer 2008 juried exhibition of production furniture mockups
The Furniture Society has issued a call for entries for “Multiplicity, the Art of the Furniture Prototype,” a competitive exhibition jointly sponsored by the Neuberger Museum of Art at Purchase College, State University of New York.
The Society wants prototypes of any type of furniture and in any type of material. (The photo above shows three chairs that FWW author Terry Moore built based on a prototype.) The prototypes must be full size, not mini mockups, and built after January 2000. “The crux of it is that we’re looking for design that is intended for production,” Furniture Society chair of exhibitions Christopher Poehlmann, of CP Lighting, said in a phone interview with FWW.com.
The furniture Society aims to gather a wide variety of prototypes. A piece could be painstakingly handcrafted even though the production model’s parts would be cut by a CNC machine or molded in polypropylene, Poehlmann said. Production could be small- or large-scale. The prototypes have “potential to be anything from a very rough mock up to a polished, final thing,” he said. “We’re looking to bring in designers from all walks of life, not just the studio furniture world.”
Cardboard’s okay too. Gary Rogowski’s full-size mock up could be a candidate, if he intended the piece for production.
Most exhibits focus on the final product of the design process, but this one examines the middle ground. When renowned architect and furniture designer Frank Gehry designed his basket-weave chairs, for example, he went through numerous prototypes before coming up with the final design, Poehlmann said. This competition aims to shine light on those kinds of intermediary steps.
The concept for the competition developed roots in the Designed for Multiples juried show that has run at the International Contemporary Furniture Fair (ICFF) over the last several years. The exhibit highlights serial production furniture made by Furniture Society members. “Multiplicity,” however, is a bigger picture view of what is going on in this arena, Poehlmann said.
The jurors are Thom Collins, director of the Neuberger Museum of Art; Julie Lasky, editor-in-chief of I.D. Magazine; Dennis Miller, of Dennis Miller Associates, in New York; and furniture maker, author, and frequent Fine Woodworking contributor Michael Fortune. The jury will look for innovation, quality (visual and intellectual), and back story, Poehlmann said.
“Multiplicity” will run from June 15 to August 10, 2008 at the Neuberger museum, coinciding with the Furniture Society’s 12th annual conference. Interested candidates must send in materials by January 15, 2008 for consideration. Entrants will compete for cash prizes of $3,500, $1,000, and $500. The three top prototypes will also be displayed at ICFF in May 2008.
Past competitions included Show Us Your Drawers, Curv-iture, and The Right Stuff. For more information about “Multiplicity,” visit the Furniture Society Web site.
Photos: Steve Scott and Terry Moore
Posted: September 12, 2007
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