Space for Hallucination
Holzrausch is known for cooperating with exciting partners. Founded in 1998 by Sven Petzold and Tobias Petri in Munich, quality is their number one priority when it comes to the design, planning and manufacture of customised products. Together with Jan Heinzelmann of OHA, Gerhardt Kellermann and Ana Relvão, Petzold and Petri work as the collective J*Gast, which is dedicated to the advancement of kitchen design. It was probably their interest in the unprecedented that drew their attention to the Allgäu-based company Out for Space. This company has developed a new material made from rattan to market maturity: Known for its capillary structure, robustness, flexibility and lightness, the climbing plant is harvested for "Karuun" in the rainforests of South East Asia by local partners. The outer bark is removed from the dried rattan poles. The poles are then cut into squared timber and glued into blocks to achieve a homogeneous quality.
This fair and natural material is of interest to Holzrausch. J*Gast has now presented a kitchen that utilises it in line with its own sustainable, material-reducing approach. The designers used three different products for this: as blockware, as veneer and in a translucent version. The linear grain of the rattan in combination with the chosen colours gives the kitchen a sculptural look. The modernity of the colours and shapes stands in vital contrast to the material's naturalness and generates a cool elegance. J*Gast's new design thus reflects its concept of generating customised products instead of mass production. In the individual environment of their users, the kitchens should be neither a backdrop nor a status symbol, but a living centrepiece. For "J*GAST made of karuun®", the expertise of the various players comes together. The impressive result of their collaboration can be seen as a prototype in the J*Gast showroom on Blumenstraße in Munich.
For its new kitschen J*Gast drew inspiration from digital intelligence, yet purely in an associative way. Ana Relvão explains: "With ethical concerns on the rise, generative AI models are accused of being trained on the work of authors and designers and using their 'signatures' in questionable ways. When designing this kitchen, we thought about reversing the scenario and 'stealing' the hallucinative character of generative AI, although no AI was involved in the process. By creating a kitchen that looks like a 'hallucination,' we challenge the usual expectations and invite viewers to reconsider the role and definition of a kitchen. 'J*GAST made of karuun®' turns the space into a conversation piece, prompting discussions about the nature of design and the role of rooms in our homes."
