Sebastian Herkner’s Everyday Magic - Metropolis Magazine

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Sebastian Herkners Everyday Magic - Metropolis

Magazine

Herkner is a bit of a wunderkind, born in 1981 and operating independently, at least in part, since

2006. Layered on the studio walls are examples of the designers other large-scale fabric

installations. While the 34-year-old German designer Sebastian Herknerhas unusual and original

ideas about both, one of his most exceptional talents is how he appears to effortlessly transcend

binary relationships (high/low, design/craft) along with geographic and disciplinary boundaries

(interiors/architecture/ fabrication). Of course, the design is more than an exercise in pushing craft

to its limits; theres a deft interplay between glass, base, and lightthe hand ofthe designer. He then

places a gold foil cylinder insidea bottle wrapper of a popular beer.Herknercombined it with the

socket spontaneously while working on a vase for the German luxury porcelain manufacturer

Rosenthal. Theres just enough office organization to see the logic of the work, just as Herkner seems

serious enough to offset a particularly acerbic kind of humor.
http://www.sebastianherkner.com/http://www.sebastianherkner.com/


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Designer Sebastian HerknerPhotography by Evelyn Dragan

When writing about designers, its easy to discuss their penchant for materiality or color. Meanwhile,
http://evelyndragan.de/http://evelyndragan.de/


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the color tonesreminiscent of Crayolas Bold and Oil Pastel phases, unusually well resolved colored-

ink markers for 1980s kidshave a fresh and clean aspect missing from the aesthetics of German

restraint or Dutch bombast. The result is a large globe of glass, almost impossibly thin, with the

same wonder of a soap bubble, frozen just before bursting. Herkners studio model is square,

acknowledging the necessity of fitting circular space into a rectilinear congress hall, but the design

intention is clearly figured in arcs of material within the box. His work is often beautiful, though, he

says, with hackles slightly raised, beauty became a stupid word in design, rightly irritated at design-

theory language fashions.

All of this pliable material is tailored into an elegantly layered whole, and connected with ideas that

come from contemporary architecture. . Germany, where many craft traditions are still alive, is a

good base for exploration. The space is circular, a natural form for soft surfaces that eschews the

usual hard lines of Teutonic architecture. He will fill the house with objects from his oeuvre and

those of friends, as well as curios obtained abroad. In contrast to some of the past Das Haus

editions, his is a convincing environment where one could imagine living, if only for a holiday

weekend.


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Herkner and his small atelierare based out ofOffenbacham Main, a satellite city of Frankfurt.


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There is order to the seeming chaos of Herkners office. Hanging in the studio are various tests for

materials, including a fetching bright amber PVC panel, a textile panel with laser-cut perforations,

and a scrunched foil sheet. Amid the many toys and distractions that populate the office, his team

tends to computers, which display 3D models of Das Haus and textile color tests for various projects.

This is no simple trick, to create an almost anti-architectural space with soft, flexible curvesand

another demonstration of Herkners wry wit.

At his small studio, a former leatherworks near Offenbachs compact center, Herkner works with a

team of up to four people. His craft interestis well suited to a curiosity about the domestic sphere,

making his creation of one at imm cologne fitting.

He holds up a standard porcelain light socket, ubiquitous since German apartments are rented

without ceiling lights installed, and the affordable standard fix is a functionally beautiful pale

ceramic. The designer visited the center in April 2014 as part of a program sponsored by a cluster of

institutions including the British Council, AllianceFranaise, the Goethe Institute, and the National

Gallery of Zimbabwe.
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An officemood boardbears tchotchkes and souvenirs the designer picked up on his travels.


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A bright amber PVC curtain partially conceals rows of furniture scale models.

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http://www.metropolismag.com/December-2015/Sebastian-Herkners-Everyday-Magic/. The Oda

Lamp started when I asked how big a blown glass sphere could be, says Herkner. A Plexiglas model

of DasHaus(center) can be made out among material samples, knickknacks, pieces of cloth, and

books littered around the workspace.
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One of Herkners early successes, the Bell Table is available in the United States through Luminaire.


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A basket woven using a techniqueHerknerlearned during workshops at theBingaCraft Centre in

Zimbabwe. Its really about materials, which is important in all my work, Herkner says.
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Das Haus has been running since 2012, with a slate of designers from around the globe, including

Doshi Levien from the U.K.and India and Neri&Hu from China in 2015. The program invites up-an-

-coming designers to develop domestic environments at one of Europes most important interiors

shows, giving them the chance to create an immersive vision of home.

I really like to work with people, together, especially with crafts. I like the ugly color combinations,

says Herkner to an assistant, prompting laughter. to collaborate, create something new, with respect

to heritage and their knowledge.

Herknerexplains his design for the 2016 imm cologne DasHausinstallation. The pavilionis circular in

shape and subdivided by a series of curtains that are hung around the office in an ad hoc fashion.

Herkners Das Haus is made out of fabrica house of curtains. Characterized by its colored glass base

and striking silhouette, the table plays just on the edgy side of something essential. You probably

dont have curtains in your house, they are something out of time, from Grandma, he says. Educated

at the university of art and design in Offenbach am Main, a satellite city of Frankfurt, Herkner still

lives in town and has even occasionally taught at his alma mater. Switching tacks, Herkner cites

Petra Blaisses curtain for the OMAdesigned Rothschild Bank in London. Similar to Blaisses simple

Dutch pavilion at the 2012 Venice Architecture Biennale, where curtains were used to transform the

hard-angled pavilion interior, Herkners Das Haus resists rectilinear partitioning. I really like to work

with people, together, especially with crafts, says Herkner, explaining recent trips to Colombia and

Zimbabwe, where he went to collaborate, create something new, with respect to heritage and theirknowledge. There are no real wallstheres just transparency and flexibility. This seems intended to

invite questions about what an interior space is or can be, and how we occupy itDanish designer

Louise Campbells 2014 version was a wonky meditationon openness and masculine and feminine
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forces, complete with a wall of beds and a kitchen with every cooking utensil hung on the wall.

The 34-year-old wunderkind will go from objects to interiors and architecture with his design for the

Das Haus installation at imm cologne.

Jessica Bridger

A marked respect for craft is present in all of Herkners work, influenced by global travel and sources

closer to home. Inside, his humor and curiosity are readily apparent: A sizable collection of plastic

utensils, plants, books, jumbled objects from travel, and hanging fabrics crowd the cozy rooms. . His

work is elegant; one of his first successes was the Bell Table, a mix of glass and bronze with unusual

lines and a satin border. Herkner combines design and craft, global and local, with a stubborn

curiosity. The decidedly mundane and almost universally appreciated objects were recast into

theFaldaVase, a simple, archetypal, round pottery vessel with an explosion of pleated gold-plated

porcelain at the neck.Herknergrins, satisfied at his everyday magic.

Herkners is perhaps less rigidly conceptual, as one can imagine freer, easier enjoyment of his Das

Haus. In 2016 he will go from objects to architecture with his design for Das Haus at imm cologne.

The aim was always to have my own studio, work on my own with a team, he says. For a fair filled

with booths from all the top manufacturers, Das Haus is the chance to integrate them into an actual

interior. Herkner references yurts and other impermanent, mobile structures, but he is inspired just

as much by recent travels as by camping with my family, every night in a different place, as a child
http://www.imm-cologne.com/imm/trade-fair/events/Exhibitions-more/Das-Haus-Interiors-on-stage/index.phphttp://www.imm-cologne.com/imm/trade-fair/events/Exhibitions-more/Das-Haus-Interiors-on-stage/index.php

Sebastian Herkner’s Everyday Magic - Metropolis Magazine

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