Emeco’s 111 Navy chairs at popular London restaurant and club, House of Wolf. Described as “Victorian lair for pleasure-seeking gastronomes” the site on Upper Street Islington embraces the features of the original 1830’s pub perfectly mixed with contemporary design features, experimental food and inventive cocktails.
Detailed to perfection with a classic appearance, the Parrish Collection by Emeco and Konstantin Grcic was first made for the Parrish Art Museum in Water Mill, New York. The externally modest building of the Parrish Art Museum holds an internal complexity, just like the Parrish Collection - a set of chairs and tables with a subtle design and a heartfelt technical core.
The Parrish lounge and side chairs designed by Konstantin Grcic are part of a modular collection, featuring three frames with four optional seats. The recycled aluminum sandblasted frames are available in clear anodized, red or black powder coated finishes. The frames can be combined with different seat types; reclaimed polypropylene, locally sourced wood from Lancaster, PA, Danish fabric from Kvadrat or three luxurious leathers from Spinneybeck. These choices enable different combinations, creating a versatile family.
“Developing the mobile interiors for the Parrish Art Museum brings us to the peculiar psychology around chairs used in public spaces – exploring the idea of comfort using very little material. Considering the public self-awareness in a museum seat, the Parrish chair was given a generous seat and a round tube, forming a belt that defines the space around you - a space where you can feel protected,” says Konstantin Grcic.
@Pop-up installation at Bar Basso Milan. Photo by Peter Steinhauer for www.interiorism.de
“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 and being such a truly American company - it was a perfect match,“ says Konstantin Grcic.
“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 pushEmeco 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,” Gregg Buchbinder.
“I have always had a fascination and admiration of the hard physical labor of the production of the iconic Emeco Navy chair. My ambition for the collaboration was, therefore, to do something that uses the same aluminum work but makes the process more effective, less physically challenging. I think the design of the Parrish chair comes from a close understanding of what Emeco can really do,” says Konstantin Grcic.
Adieu Madame Putman 23 December 1925 – 19 January 2013.
Emeco Navy Counter stools at Cocotte & Donabés in the 5th arrondissement of Paris. A small friendly place with Asian specialties prepared in the kitchen. Parquet floors, exposed stone walls and plants combined with colorful 111 Navy Chairs creates the perfect Bistro style, serving tempura and caramelized pork. Photo by Yann Delacour.
