Reference Page: April 2010

Bearing an Imprint

Videos at www.emeco.net/sitsatseat/index.htm feature some wonderful history about Emeco, like the (possibly apocryphal) detail that its classic chair, the Navy, was modeled on Betty Grable’s backside. No wonder: Grable had the best bod in old Hollywood, with gams so perfect Fox reportedly insured them for a quarter-million dollars. Advanced ergonomics and 3-D modeling software have since rendered the pinup/movie-star chair obsolete (trust us, we looked). Nevertheless, the female form remains a favored source of inspiration among furniture designers. Some decidedly unsubtle examples, in descending order of taste, are at www.tsesler.com/object/objectru.php; www.designbuzz.it/2008/04/18/novita-salone-la-sedia-her-di-fabio-novembre; and www.homedecoring.com/tag/sexy.

The Allure of Leisure

Ah, Noé Duchaufour-Lawrance. Those chiseled features. That sleek physique. Those impeccable loins. (We’re talking about his furniture, of course.) At www.whoswho.fr/portraitvideo-noe-duchaufour-lawrance-2.html, the designer smiles a lot and, we presume, discusses his fine body of work. (It’s all French to us.) Then the camera pans across his marquee interiors project, some ostrich-egg toilet pods for London’s über-trendy Sketch (www.sketch.uk.com), the sort of inexplicably popular restaurant where the bathrooms are better than the food. We’re partial to his artier stuff—he’s a trained sculptor, after all—like the Cosmo vase for Marianne Guedin, a bulging saucer that would look right at home in The Day the Earth Stood Still. See more at www.neonata.fr/va/introduction.html.