A red dot Design Award 2011 Goes To Alexander Gufler’s Merano Chair
Pure Austrian Design, 4/2011
Alexander Gufler’s Merano chair gets this year's “red dot Design Award”. Merano is a modern chair with a natural appearance, designed in 2010 by this young, Vienna-based designer from South-Tyrol/ Italy. It is the most important award Alexander Gufler has won, since he started his career as an independent designer one year ago.
The chair bears the name of Alexander Gufler’s hometown, the Italian wellness city Merano. This piece of furniture may just represent what influenced Alexander during the design process: Italian temperament mixes with Austrian consistency, transmitting the peace of Merano’s spas and the comfort and the freshness of the local mountains.
The dominant elements of the chair are two bent plywood sheets axially intersecting each other, serving as the seat and the back support. In combination with the substructure this parts become a stable unit. The intersected shells and legs shape the armrests. The used materials ensure stability and firmness while maintaining a very low weight. The chair convinces by its lightness and sitting comfort.
Merano chair’s simplicity results in a good manufacturability. Merano is being serially produced by Czech furniture manufacturer TON, based in Bystrice. Located where Michael Thonet laid the foundation stone of the original Thonet factory back in 1861, TON is the oldest company for bentwood furniture in the world.
The international “red dot Design Award” ranks among the biggest and the most renowned competitions in the world, dealing with the processing and design of products. Every year, an independent international commission evaluates registered products according to strict criteria, such as innovation, functionality and general product quality.
But that’s not all: The Merano chair also won the Golden Key 2011 at the 48th International Furniture Fair in Belgrade/ Serbia. The award-winning chair will be shown at the TON booth during this year's Salone Internazionale del Mobile in Milan.
The dominant elements of the chair are two bent plywood sheets axially intersecting each other, serving as the seat and the back support. In combination with the substructure this parts become a stable unit. The intersected shells and legs shape the armrests. The used materials ensure stability and firmness while maintaining a very low weight. The chair convinces by its lightness and sitting comfort.
Merano chair’s simplicity results in a good manufacturability. Merano is being serially produced by Czech furniture manufacturer TON, based in Bystrice. Located where Michael Thonet laid the foundation stone of the original Thonet factory back in 1861, TON is the oldest company for bentwood furniture in the world.
The international “red dot Design Award” ranks among the biggest and the most renowned competitions in the world, dealing with the processing and design of products. Every year, an independent international commission evaluates registered products according to strict criteria, such as innovation, functionality and general product quality.
But that’s not all: The Merano chair also won the Golden Key 2011 at the 48th International Furniture Fair in Belgrade/ Serbia. The award-winning chair will be shown at the TON booth during this year's Salone Internazionale del Mobile in Milan.
