Parentesit

Jeanette AltherrWho: German-born Jeanette Altherr trained as an industrial designer and is a founding partner of design studio and creative consultancy Lievore Altherr Molina in Barcelona, now known as Lievore Altherr. Altherr’s particular area of specialisation is creative direction and art direction for communication, but the studio also does product design and development, strategic consulting and ephemeral architecture. Altherr counts “art, architecture, nature, our ever-changing society and life in general with all its complexity” as inspirations or reference points for her designs. “We seek to instil harmony, balance and the values we believe in,” she says. “We look at objects as something more than a mere expression of a style. It is a synthesis of meaning on many levels into one single form. Our objective is to not renounce anything: neither form nor function, reason nor sensitivity, art nor technique, innovation nor continuity ... It means working on the search for a form that is dense but balanced. We are looking to attain a serene tension achieved through not having a single dominant value.”

The studio has worked with a host of internationally recognised design companies such as Andreu World, Vibia and Tribu, among others, and it has enjoyed a long-standing partnership with Italian furniture brand, Arper.

What: The studio’s numerous collections for Arper comprise sleek chairs, modular sofas and acoustic wall modules in eye-catching colours, from sweet pastels to vivid brights, depending on the collection.

The Catifa chair is one of Altherr’s personal favourites. She says, “Catifa, which is Catalan for rug, encapsulates maximum comfort with the slightest gesture. This chair is extremely light and it synthesises many references in a very fluid way. We feel a particular fondness for this project because it harmoniously brings together all the values that interest us. It is a project of synthesis, where formal austerity is achieved through the reduction of the superfluous but without renouncing sensuality. Created with sophisticated technology but without making a display of it, this design is timeless and universal. In 2000, the first version of Catifa was launched and is today considered a design classic — the six collections that now comprise the Catifa family are in continuous development. All are characterised by their capacity to adapt easily to the most varied ambiences without sacrificing their identity.”

Another one is the Leaf collection of chairs, characterised by a skeletonised leaf design that embodies “simplicity, grace, transparency, synthesis and icon”. The Kinesit, Arper’s first office chair, is also a defining piece. It represents “the search for technology that fuses seamlessly with the object so that all we are left with is the experience”, says Altherr. “Kinesit is an office chair that simply looks like a chair without any visible mechanism, yet it is 100% compliant with all regulatory requirements. Light and minimalist in its design, the chair seat and back are fully adjustable allowing it to conform to individual body types for optimal comfort.”

Kinesit

The company’s creations are a balance of function, beauty and emotion, key components of good design. Altherr elaborates, “Good design fulfils its purpose, its functions — and function includes aesthetic — with originality and respect, balancing all constraints in the best possible way. Good design shows an inner equilibrium in which you can’t change anything without altering its spirit. For us, functional and formal efficiency are not enough. We would like to add something else to the debate: that of a specific emotion, which means for us the emotion of a good atmosphere, of a relationship of trust and joy between the user and the object.”

Where: Lievore Altherr Molina’s collections for Arper are available at Space Furniture, Third floor, Intermark Mall, Kuala Lumpur. For more information, call (03) 2166 2212.  

Catifa

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This article first appeared in the August + September 2016 issue of Haven, which comes complimentary with The Edge Malaysia Weekly. Subscribe here for your personal copy.

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