Bert Loeschner's 'Inspired by Eames' Reimagines a Design Icon.

From Bert Loeschner’s ‘Inspired by Eames’series, Representative is based upon the first picture emerging at Google for the words RAR Eames. The chair was recreated in life-size but flat as an icon using its original materials. It is reduced to the function of representation.

Dead Sidechair with the original Eames chair which was used as the model. On the walls is a range of panels developed in order to investigate how the fibreglass structure and colour of the seat shells from the 50s can be reproduced under different pressure and consistency of the resin.

Mould parts for the front and back of the transformed seat shell were vacuum pressed to receive the same glass fibre structure as the original. For this shape, a mould was created, based on a silicone casting produced using the original seat shell.

Bert Loeschner has a penchant for reimagining design icons by putting a new spin on them. This time he’s turned his attention to Charles and Ray Eames by bringing new life to their famed shell chair. The ‘Inspired by Eames’ project sees the playful appropriation of the instantly recognisable piece, combining visual wit with experimental material use.

The German-born Vienna-based designer and artist has turned the famous and much-loved chair into an object most closely aligned to a child’s see-saw, injecting a playful sense of fun into the classic design. Two handcrafted seats, one a salmon shade and the other a soft seafoam green, sit opposite each other mounted on top of steam-bent oak rockers. The design creates a sense of tension, the silent conversation between the two chairs making viewers wish they were included in the discussion.

Kim_K (no prizes for guessing who inspired this chair interpretation) features a high-glossy seat shell with embedded synthetic fur connected through a transparent shockmount interpretation resting on resin reinforced cardboard legs.

Relation consists of two crafted seat shells in collectors’ colour scheme, salmon and seafoam, hand made shockmounts, stronger dimensioned rod bases and steam bent oak rockers.

The project has been handcrafted with industrial materials with production methods that are continually developing and largely improvised with each piece. Loeschner specializes in creating unique, handcrafted objects, that have an appearance of industrially made products. He asserts, “My objects include a campfire effect. They attract attention, bring light and warmth into space and work as an eternal eye-catcher just like watching a fire burning.”

Loeschner has brought his unique approach to the reinterpretation of another integral piece of the design culture. We remain fans of his conceptual mind and irreverent but thoughtful approach.