Florian Kräutli (Part I)

It is my pleasure to feature some of the works by the very talented Swiss designer, Florian Kräutli. Now practicing in the Netherlands, Florian finds his inspirations from many sources. In fact, he covers such a wide spectrum of designs that I don’t want to spam you with photos, so I will separate them into two posts… so let’s get right into it!

Animal Chairs

Florian’s Animal Chairs are constructed based on anatomic rules: first the skeleton, then the stuffing, then the skin. Finally, a leather-covered chair in the form of some organic creature is erected. The curves and wrinkles of these seats make them distinctly different from the mechanically-assembled chairs we are used to seeing. I would almost feel sorry for sitting on one of these “animals”. Very lively, slightly creepy… With some creative touches, they would make an excellent Halloween display.

For The Birds

Random question: What can you make out of tapioca, vegetables and wafers? Lamp shades! More precisely, it’s a series of “green” lamp shades that you can dispose of by dumping it into the woods and hungry birds are supposed to feed off them. (Yummy…) The colourful and distinct texture make the environmentally friendly lamp shade an attention-grabber for your living room. Then you look at your bubble tea and realize you got some of that same tapioca in that lamp shade…

Cows

Florian’s designs are not limited to home furniture, he also designed a cow-shaped handbag that goes really well with his Animal Chairs! “Is it okay to make a cow out of the skin of a cow?” he would playfully ask. I’ll leave you to decide, but you would definitely catch some attention carrying this one out on the street!

With all that creative talent, I imagine Florian must have stuffed his room with cool toys and furniture. To my surprise, he prefers his home rather empty and open. His projects are created out of fascination for subjects that interest him, rather than necessity. Speaking of interests… Florain and I share another interest, and that is technology! He catches up with technological developments when he manges to find some extra time, and that has become the inspiration for some of his other works, which I will show you next week. (I promise!)