“Comfort isn’t everything” stated Rick Owens when describing his furniture designs to Alexander Fury of The New York Times’ T Magazine. Owens cited Robert Mallet-Stevens, Brutalism, Marcel Breuer architecture and German bunkers as the aesthetic influences behind his monumental creations. And a lack of coziness isn’t the only factor that sets a piece of Owens’ furniture apart. Many items don’t really resemble furniture either.
The American fashion designer has been creating furniture with his wife and creative partner Michèle Lamy since 2007. What began as a personal project for the pair has developed into a body of gallery-worthy work, and it is their show at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles last December that is the subject of a new book published by Rizzoli, Rick Owens: Furniture.
Despite bearing the Rick Owens name, the designer readily acknowledges the role that Lamy plays in the furniture’s conception and creation, her “organic chaos” the perfect contrast to his self-confessed rigidity. And the book is an ode to her significant contribution, as well as a catalogue of their extraordinary pieces. A fine example of the power of balance in furniture, energies, design and relationships.
Photos: Owenscorp