At the beginning of the 1990s, Ron Arad moved away from heavy metal structures to experiment with the suppleness of wood and rubber. His Crust Chair, produced by Sawaya & Moroni in Rome, is a perfect example. The bent plywood seat rests on a spongy rubber base allowing the chair to move slightly. Black polyurethane discs, applied to the seat and backrest, contrast with the light wood veneer. Here, the designer marries rigidity and flexibility, giving rise to a functional chair that seems to vibrate at the slightest movement.
The Crust Chair also fits into the chromatic repertoire of the 1980s, dominated by the alliance of light wood and deep black. This contrast, found in the grand hall of the Opéra Bastille by Carlos Ott, Philippe Starck’s Costes Chair, or Mario Botta’s Robot Cabinet, illustrates the uniformity of taste characteristic of that decade.
During the same period, the famous Big Easy, initially conceived in folded sheet metal, went through multiple variations. With the Red Soft Big Easy, produced by Moroso in Italy, Ron Arad abandoned the coldness of metal in favor of foam and resin. The object retained its monumental proportions, but its massiveness softened, offering the body a new sense of hospitality. As often with Arad, formal experimentation precedes use, yet here it results in a chair that is both sculptural and comfortable.
Another significant example is his collaboration with Fiam Italy, an Italian company pioneering in curved glass. This partnership allowed him to confront his inventiveness with exceptional artisanal and industrial know-how. With the Konx table, he exploited the qualities of float glass and mercury, combined with steel, to compose a surface blurring the line between fragile matter and structural construction. In 1996, he designed for Fiam the Onda cabinet, made of glass and aluminum. This piece with undulating structures reflects a new approach to transparency: more than a simple container, it becomes an architectured sculpture, playing with reflections, light and optical distortions. One could reproach these pieces for being more objects of contemplation than genuine domestic tools, but it is precisely here that the critical strength of his design lies.
His research into transparency also took shape with the Well Transparent Chair, a plexiglass variation of the Well Tempered Chair in steel. The change of material radically alters the reading of the object: where stainless steel imposed an almost architectural presence, plexiglass introduced fragility, light, and a striking immateriality.
In 2002, Arad continued his exploration with Oh Void 2, a seat in carbon fiber and Nomex paper impregnated with resin, produced in a limited edition. Here, aeronautics meets furniture, in a piece as light as it is strong, oscillating between futuristic object and organic sculpture.
By moving beyond metal, Ron Arad does not deny his origins but expands his creative vocabulary. Concrete, plywood, polyurethane, resin, plexiglass, carbon fiber: he explores the contradictions of matter to draw new forms from it. Ron Arad remains faithful to his credo: to push the limits of material, to blur the boundaries between function and expression. His non-metallic works are just as radical as his experiments in steel and confirm his status as a tireless inventor, making design a field of experimentation where the ordinary is transformed into permanent questioning.
The implicit critique of comfort, functionality or “good taste” reminds us that, for Ron Arad, design is never merely a service to the user: it resonates as a constant interrogation of the boundary between object and sculpture.
Ron Arad beyond metal
An essential figure of contemporary design, Ron Arad built his reputation on metal. Yet he never ceased to explore other paths, freeing himself from the raw materials of his beginnings. A true free spirit, he improvises variations around seating, sound or light, constantly seeking to redefine the object through material. In the postwar design landscape, endless repetitions and the obsession with “good taste” had ended up producing a polished but dull aesthetic. Many creators then sought to give new meaning to objects, some drawing from tribal art, others from the reinterpretation of classics or architectural symbolism. Arad, however, took a more radical path: he made the surreal transformation of everyday objects his creative engine.
As he moved away from metal to explore concrete, wood, glass, resin or plexiglass, Ron Arad revealed another side of his creative personality: that of an insatiable inventor, eager to make fragility and solidity, transparency and opacity, speak to each other.
In 1983-1984, in his London workshop One Off, he designed with Peter Keene a hi-fi system that broke radically with the tradition of audio equipment as both aesthetic and functional objects. Titled Concrete Stereo Sound System, it combined turntable, amplifiers and speakers cast in concrete. Inspired by a granite turntable developed by Thorens in 1976, this piece reflects Arad’s taste for détournement and the absurd.
Another significant example is his collaboration with Fiam Italy, an Italian company pioneering in curved glass. This partnership allowed him to confront his inventiveness with exceptional artisanal and industrial know-how. With the Konx table, he exploited the qualities of float glass and mercury, combined with steel, to compose a surface blurring the line between fragile matter and structural construction. In 1996, he designed for Fiam the Onda cabinet, made of glass and aluminum. This piece with undulating structures reflects a new approach to transparency: more than a simple container, it becomes an architectured sculpture, playing with reflections, light and optical distortions. One could reproach these pieces for being more objects of contemplation than genuine domestic tools, but it is precisely here that the critical strength of his design lies.
His research into transparency also took shape with the Well Transparent Chair, a plexiglass variation of the Well Tempered Chair in steel. The change of material radically alters the reading of the object: where stainless steel imposed an almost architectural presence, plexiglass introduced fragility, light, and a striking immateriality.
At the beginning of the 1990s, Ron Arad moved away from heavy metal structures to experiment with the suppleness of wood and rubber. His Crust Chair, produced by Sawaya & Moroni in Rome, is a perfect example. The bent plywood seat rests on a spongy rubber base allowing the chair to move slightly. Black polyurethane discs, applied to the seat and backrest, contrast with the light wood veneer. Here, the designer marries rigidity and flexibility, giving rise to a functional chair that seems to vibrate at the slightest movement.
The Crust Chair also fits into the chromatic repertoire of the 1980s, dominated by the alliance of light wood and deep black. This contrast, found in the grand hall of the Opéra Bastille by Carlos Ott, Philippe Starck’s Costes Chair, or Mario Botta’s Robot Cabinet, illustrates the uniformity of taste characteristic of that decade.
During the same period, the famous Big Easy, initially conceived in folded sheet metal, went through multiple variations. With the Red Soft Big Easy, produced by Moroso in Italy, Ron Arad abandoned the coldness of metal in favor of foam and resin. The object retained its monumental proportions, but its massiveness softened, offering the body a new sense of hospitality. As often with Arad, formal experimentation precedes use, yet here it results in a chair that is both sculptural and comfortable.
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