More than sixty years after the opening of the UN North Delegates’ Lounge, Hella Jongerius has redesigned the lounge together with Rem Koolhaas, Irma Boom, Gabriel Lester and Louise Schouwenberg. The windows of the East Façade of the UN Delegates’ Lounge are now covered with a grid curtain, which both corresponds to and contrasts with the grid curtains of the north façade.
Product designer Hella Jongerius has achieved an international reputation through the combination of craft and industrial methods of production, the celebration of history, and the optimal utilization of the specific characteristics of craft production. Those themes are clearly present in the Knots & Beads Curtain. Jongerius also designed two new pieces of furniture for this project, the UN Lounge Chair and the Sphere Table.
The curtain consists of knotted yarn and porcelain beads. A large variety of knots were traditionally applied in fishery; Dutch maritime history has beautiful examples from which the designer drew inspiration. The ceramic beads refer to another rich tradition, the handicraft ceramic industry. In close cooperation with the craftsmen of Royal Tichelaar in Makkum, the oldest ceramic company in the Netherlands (1572), thousands of beads were made by hand, each of them bear visible traces of how they were produced. The irregularities of the knots and beads soften the severe grid pattern of the whole. The beads’ surfaces also subtly alter the uniformity of the grid: Jongerius dipped only a part of each bead in the glaze, creating a blend of light reflecting and light absorbing elements.
Dutch designer Hella Jongerius works on the cusp of design, craft, art, and technology to fuse traditional and contemporary influences, high tech and low tech, the industrial and artisanal. Jongerius studied Industrial Design at Eindhoven Design Academy and graduated in 1993. She came to prominence very soon after graduating, with a series of her designs being produced by the influential Dutch conceptual design collective Droog Design. In 1993, she started her own design company, Jongeriuslab, in Rotterdam and moved to Berlin in 2008. Jongerius designs a range of products but has a particular interest in ceramics. She is fascinated by the value of the individual character and qualities that objects can assume and in how individuality can be incorporated into manufactured products. She has collaborated with many prestigious manufacturers, including Vitra, IKEA, Royal Tichelaar Makkum, and Swarovski and her work is held in the collections of MoMA, New York; the Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum, New York; the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; and the Design Museum in London, amongst many others.
above: Hella Jongerius’ Knots & Beads Curtain, UN North Delegates’ Lounge, New York
Hella Jongerius’ Knots & Beads Curtain and her UN Lounge Chair, UN North Delegates’ Lounge, New York. All photography courtesy of Hella Jongerius
Add your valued opinion to this post.