Winifred Wikkeling

Pixelated Chair By Studio Makkink & Bey

Via Design Boom

Ah…the Dutch. Clever, liberated, progressive, open. Intellectually curious about all cultures, history and creativity. Humanitarians? Yes, Internationale Zamenwerking tells us just how so. As does a very relaxed justice system. It is fitting then that Studio Makkink & Bey would create this project titled ‘A Poor Haute Couture,’ a commentary on consolidation in the luxury market and the left over materials that are normally not of interest in design. We wondered: was it the landscape free of a death penalty that allowed this chair to take shape? Our first glance made us shiver, our second glance made us confused, our third made us blush a little. Though we like this free form design, unplanned and unstructured, we continue to feel a bit of anxiety. Is the overeenkomst with the electric chair apparent to us alone?

Perspective Chair by Pharrell Williams

Occasionally we suffer bouts of self importance that lead us to believe the designer should tailor their work to match our tastes and desires rather than their own. Such is the case with this chair. Though not Dutch, not particularly clever and not quite beautiful, we were moved by the perspective. But for all the innuendo of this design, we are mostly left cold. We suspect we could be far more likely seduced by a chair that exudes warmth and passion in its craftsmanship; something that gives us the sense that the designer’s own hands touched it, assembled it and carved his vision to life. This chair makes us want for the warmth of wood, the seduction of black, the strength of an epoxy finish, the passion of manual labor. We wish to commission a re-make.

Candelabrum by Joost van Bleiswijk

With a name like Winifred, it should be no surprise that we have an affinity for traditions more of the Victorian kind. What we wouldn’t do for a chamber maid to draw our baths and there were times after a work out, we were left so fatigued and weary, we sincerely felt only a personal dresser could see us through. Thus, we immediately fell for Joost van Bleiswijk’s candelabrum. Though striking and clever in its modern assembly, the candelabrum exudes the slightly dark and mysterious aura of another time. We rather picture it carried by a brooding Mr. Darcy rushing a dark, foreboding hallway, anxious to find his Elizabeth. It’s as if the candelabrum has witnessed and then captured many a deep and dark secret. We feel we could entrust it with ours…