Lensvelt präsentiert eine „Boring Collection“
Dialektiker sind selten geworden. Lensvelt und Space Encounters arbeiten an der Balance von Arbeit und Spiel.
“Boredom,” philosopher Sören Kierkegaard has one of his pseudonyms, the “aesthete A” say, “is the root of all evil“. And he continues: “No wonder then that the world goes backwards, that evil spreads given that boredom increases and boredom is the root of all evil. This can be traced back to the very beginning of the world.”
That said, Kierkegaard, who was as eccentric as he was brilliant, would not have been the earned the reputation of being a lucid dialectician if in the short history of progress, which his aesthete subsequently relates, boredom did not prove to be an effective driver of man’s progress, no matter how problematic this might be.
Obviously, the designers at Lensvelt are aware of the productive dialectics of boredom. And as regards the simple and functional design of furniture they have always been different as designers. The Dutch never needed specially designed furniture in order to be creative, critical or humorous. Now they have raised unobtrusiveness to a principle, and are presenting - as a contrast to the rampant infantile approach to offices à la Google – a collection of intentionally “boring” office furniture, conceived in collaboration with Space Encounters Office for Architecture.
Lensvelt explains that the “Boring Collection” was born from their dissatisfaction with the appearance of affordable “contract furniture”, which is dictated by regulations and consequently often conflicts with other office elements. Ultimately, not only the furniture needs to be affordable and durable and ensure the work-life balance is right. Someone also has to ensure the right balance between work and play. In order to demonstrate just what can come about when someone is bored, parts of the collections were stacked on top of each other producing something reminiscent of the legendary “Carlton” bookcase Ettore Sottsass designed back in 1981 in the spirit of Memphis.
In order to underline the firm’s commitment to boredom on 12 and 13 April there is a “Boring Rave” in the “Boring Gallery”
(1 Via Privata Oslavia, 20134 Milan, limited number of tickets). (tw)
