Thonet, the oldest furniture brand in the world and the German manufacturer of high-quality furnishings, is producing a simplified form of bentwood and tubular steel furniture for the Japanese retail chain Muji. The products are manufactured entirely at Thonet’s headquarters in Frankenberg, Germany to the company’s customary high quality standards.

The first models are reminiscent of those bentwood chairs that were the cornerstone on which the Thonet success story was established. The most famous bentwood chair, No. 14 is celebrating its 150th birthday and is probably the oldest industrial product still in production today. The chair is sold with range of tables that has a convincingly understated elegance, and it marries perfectly with the expressively styled chair. The English designer James Irvine, who is now working and living in Milan as creative director at Thonet, is responsible for the reinterpretation of the bentwood furniture.

In addition to the bentwood tradition, the “Muji manufactured by Thonet” collection also features the second revolutionary trend of the Thonet brand, the company’s tubular steel furniture tradition dating back to the 1920s. An iconographic tubular steel cantilever chair is sold alongside a desk and a range of side tables that have a convincingly effortless style and cool beauty like the original models. This collection was created by the German designer Konstantin Grcic.

With a peculiar sculpture piece based on a system of “Dendroids,” American artist Roxy Paine has created a 130-foot-long by 45-foot-wide stainless-steel sculpture at The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Roof Garden. It is an interesting combination of concepts – Paine uses both mechanical means and the innate logic of natural forms to create his “Dendroid” tree-like sculptures. Like in nature, these are a series of vascular networks, tree roots, mushrooms, and fungal mycelia. His meticulous research and observation of a variety of tree species help him to understand the nuances of how a tree grows. Paine has said:

“I’ve processed the idea of a tree and created a system for its form. I take this organic majestic being and break it down into components and rules. The branches are translated into pipe and rod.”

Employing the “language” that he has invented for each of these fictive species, Paine’s trees are “grown” through a laborious process of welding together the cylindrical piping and rods and manifests itself with the green and concrete surroundings of New York.

Maelstrom (2009) is Paine’s largest and most ambitious work to date and is showing now until October 25 at The Metroplitan Museum of Art Rooftop Garden.

Installation images of Roxy Paine on the Roof: Maelstrom

Installation footage of Roxy Paine on the Roof: Maelstrom
[via The Met]