Off-White and Louis Vuitton menswear designer Virgil Abloh has recently debuted his latest collaboration, this time in the iteration of furniture with Swiss design company Vitra.
The first collection is a homage to French architect Jean Prouvé, where they have added contemporary elements to the architects already timeless pieces.
The designer has reimagined the classic Antony chair with pastel blue tones and plexiglass elements, adding Abloh's signature minimalist street-style take. “To me, design always has the inherent idea of being a bridge from the past, with an eye towards the future…I loved the idea of introducing some Prouvé classics to a generation today that might not know the importance of his work,” He said of the collaboration. In the same pastel blue tone, Abloh has rendered the Potence lamp, which has been encased with a minimal white cage. It's all very industrial, and to further the concept, he debuts a series of original pastel blue ceramic blocks - which resemble besser blocks - to function as storage and decoration.
This isn't the designers first venture into furniture, either. With an IKEA collaboration dropping roughly one year ago, where he donned products carrying Abloh's quotation mark signifiers, such as a "SCULPTURE" bag, and a "WET GRASS" rug. The collection featured classic Scandinavian style products with a signature twist. "There's multiple layers to it," he told High Snobiety. "It's both generic and very specific. The fact that it has a doorstop attached to the leg is so subtle but so odd at the same time."
He also announced a partnership with Paris design studio Galerie Kreo, where he released a limited series of graffiti-covered concrete seats, benches and mirrors, stating "Here, the heritage of brutalism, its forms and ideas, are literally perforated, extruded to serve as a pedestal for the creative expression of the street," He noted of the collaboration, which, as with everything the designer touches, had strong nods to urban living and industrial accents, making the pieces quintessentially his.
The “Virgil Abloh c/o Vitra” collection is priced variably and is available at the Basic.Space website.
