Project
Dapper
Client
Hay
Year
2016
Type
Chair
Description
The Aga Khan Foundation commissioned Doshi Levien to design a compact lounge chair for Victoria Hall, a student accommodation project in King’s Cross, London. The brief called for a small, comfortable chair suitable for study bedrooms and shared areas. In response, Doshi Levien created a structural composition in which the chair’s components appear momentarily brought together – a deconstructed illusion held in balance.
Danish brand Hay developed the chair for the project and subsequently added the design to its own collection.
Credits
Art Direction: Nipa Doshi
Barbican photos:Jonas Lindström
Product photos: Hay
(Fig 1)
DAPPER FINDS A HOME IN THE BARBICAN
Dapper is in great company with plywood designs by Charles and Ray Eames to its left and right, including a cabinet gifted to Nipa Doshi and Jonathan Levien by Herman Miller in exchange for a talk that the studio gave in Michigan. On the right side hangs the Eames Molded Leg Splint, an early experiment with plywood.
(Fig 2)
A FEW OF OUR FAVOURITE THINGS
An Ettore Sottsass teapot, part of his Indian Memories collection, the Rabari rug for Nanimarquina, and the Dapper chair in leather.
(Fig 3)
DESIGN TO BE USED IN MULTIPLES
Aware of how furniture creates atmosphere, Doshi Levien imagined the Dapper chair to be used throughout a space.
(Fig 4)
STRUCTURAL SIMPLICITY
Doshi Levien created a structural composition in which the chair’s components appear momentarily brought together – a deconstructed illusion held in balance.