CULTURE

Dutch Designer Joris Laarman Is Making Furniture For the Future, As Seen In his First U.S. Museum Exhibition


Joris Laarman thinks big. A pioneering force at the frontier of design, art, and engineering, the 37-year-old Dutch designer makes 3-D-printed bridges, tables constructed with the aid of industrial robots, and chairs that can be downloaded from the internet. “Joris Laarman Lab: Design in the Digital Age”—the first U.S. museum exhibition of his work, opening September 27 (through January 14, 2018) at the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, in New York—affords us a closer look at his haute-cerebral brand of futurism. “Laarman is more of a cross between a scientist and an artist than a conventional designer,” notes Mark Wilson, the exhibition’s co-curator. “There are undeniable references to the past, but his materials and processes are as innovative as the end results.”

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Joris Laarman Lab; Bone Chair, 2006. Photo courtesy of Joris Laarman Lab

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Joris Laarman Lab, Bone Armchair, 2007. Photo courtesy of Joris Laarman Lab

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Ben Rosenzweig

Joris Laarman Lab, Aluminum Gradient Chair, from Microstructures series, 2014. Photo courtesy of Joris Laarman Lab

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Ben Rosenzweig

Joris Laarman Lab; Detail, Aluminum Gradient Chair, from Microstructures series, 2014. Photo courtesy of Joris Laarman Lab

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Rendering, MX3D Bridge in the MX3D workshop; Photo courtesy of Joris Laarman Lab

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Joris Laarman Lab’s Kilovoxel, Megavoxel, and Gigavoxel tables, from Digital Matter series, 2011. Photo courtesy of Joris Laarman Lab

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Joris Laarman Lab’s Heatwave Radiator, 2003. Photo courtesy of Joris Laarman Lab

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Joris Laarman Lab’s Dragon Bench, 2014. Photo courtesy of Joris Laarman Lab

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Installation, Ivy. Photo courtesy of Joris Laarman Lab

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Joris Laarman Lab’s Puzzle Chair, from Makerchair series, 2014. Photo courtesy of Joris Laarman Lab

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Robert Roozenbeek

Joris Laarman Lab’s Diagonal Resin, Maze, Diamond, Puzzle Wood, and Diagonal Wood chairs, from Makerchair series, 2014. Photo courtesy of Joris Laarman Lab

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Thijs Wolzak

Joris Laarman Lab

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Joris Laarman. Photo courtesy of Joris Laarman Lab