Working Title by Johanna Dehio

As intimated by a deliberate lack of title, the new furniture collection from Johanna Dehio concerns itself with the role of improvisation in design. Berlin-based Dehio’s range of seating, sideboards, mirrors and coat racks playfully manipulates the makeshift design solutions that we encounter in day-to-day life.

“Readiness to improvise and an open-minded approach are important preconditions in her design method,” says Erster Erster, the gallery that first exhibited Working Title. Among Dehio’s motivations were a desire to capture the ramshackle charm peculiar to makeshift objects, and a commitment to creating products imbued with a sense of openness and ease.

Principal in the collection is the Hockerbank seating: a series of small, neat stools paired with a plank containing corresponding round cutouts. By slotting the stools into the cutouts, users are able to create a long bench. Dehio’s seating is designed with freedom in mind: the products can be altered to meet the different demands of their users. The same system is employed with round tables, that when combined with another plank, become a spacious rectangular table ideal for accommodating larger dining parties.

This spirit of inventiveness also marks Dehio’s Drahtbank seating. Wire frames coated in brightly coloured plastic are twisted into the outline forms of chairs and stools. By sliding a flat material – like a wooden panel or board – through cradles built into the frame, the user is able to produce variants upon traditional tables, chairs, benches and stools. Completing the collection are the Wandwinkel sideboard and mirror and the broom-like Kleiderstiele coat hanger: pieces that simply lean against a wall as opposed to being formally mounted.

 Words

Oli Stratford