Oh mamma, what a chair
By: Beverly Allen - November 24th, 2006
When it comes to furniture design, either form and function can trump the other, and force a homeowner to choose between an exquisite piece that no-one will want to use and an overstuffed behemoth that scores high on comfort and low on looks.
But for Montreal-based designer Patrick Messier, aesthetic appeal and practicality have equivalent value. “They are at the very same level,” he says, “and in good design, one does not have to be constrained by the other. They must co-exist.”
Messier’s MAMMA chair provided the 32-year-old designer with an excellent opportunity to show that it’s possible to perfectly balance the forces of beauty and usability.
The idea for the chair was conceived while Messier and his wife (and business partner), Sophie Fournier, were expecting their first child. They looked in vain for a rocking chair they liked, but found traditional rockers ugly and ungainly. So Messier began to think about a chair that would combine lovely lines with the full-out comfort that a new mamma needs. Working from the image of a ribbon floating in air, he created the MAMMA Chair.
Made for Editorial Inc. (www.editorialliving.com) from a single piece of injected fibreglass with a high-gloss urethane finish, the piece marries strong, clean lines with durable material and user-friendly design.
Messier can attest to the chair’s practicality. He and Sophie continue to cuddle and rock their 18-month-old daughter, Mirielle, in it. But the chair’s design appeal is also undisputable. In fact, its sweeping, curved lines and delicate sense of balance have prompted some clients to buy it to display as art.
Despite a $6,000 price tag, the chair has found both form and function fans across North America, especially among retailers of high-end contemporary furniture in New York, Florida and California. It also recently won a Best of Show award in the Best of Canada Design Awards, an annual competition organized by Canadian Interiors magazine.
Aesthetic appeal and practicality may be the cornerstones of Messier’s design sensibility, but they also reflect, he says, a larger concern with sustainability. “We want to give the consumer a sensual and appealing product that they will keep for a long period of time,” he says. “I think it’s better to create something that looks good and last a long time rather than something than can be easily recycled.”
The desire to create durable home goods is behind Messier’s latest design project—a line of full-spectrum LED lamps that will go on display at the International Contemporary Furniture Fair (www.icff.com), which will be held in May of 2007 in New York City. Unlike the current crop of LED lamps, Messier’s LED line will produce a warmer light that is more like halogen and will, he says, deliver 100,000 hours of light.
The same show will also see the debut of a line of sofas with extra-deep seating, on which Messier is just now putting the finishing touches. Again, the idea is to create a piece of furniture that offers exceptional comfort and has a strong aesthetic appeal.
The SEDO sofa will have a solid maple frame and a chrome-finished steel base, CFC-free polyurethane foam, and down-filled cushions. Prices should start at about $5,000 for a 60-inch model, although they have not yet been finalized.
Messier thinks consumers will respond to these new pieces with the same enthusiasm they showed the MAMMA chair. “These designs are not just fashionable,” he explains. “They have an emotional side. It’s almost like they have a message to send. If it sends the right message, people will keep a piece for life.”