A mirror-cum-observatory and a lockdown lounge chair with an integrated bar feature in an exhibition at New York's Friedman Benda gallery that explores the value of design objects beyond just their practical use.
The show, titled Split Personality, was curated by Alice Stori Liechtenstein and features furniture and homewares from 17 different designers.
Each piece was chosen because it has a symbolic value beyond what meets the eye, exploring topics from immigration to biodiversity loss through different materials and production methods.
Limited grasses table by Mischer'Traxler
Several of the projects on show are the culmination of extensive research projects, among them a coffee table from Viennese duo Mischer'Traxler. Protruding from its gridded frame are brass effigies of a near-extinct grass species known as agropyron cristatum, of which only around 200 specimens remain in Austria.
"They are only making five editions of this table because on each table there are 40 brass stems. So it's a way of representing the number of plants that really exist in nature," Liechtenstein explained.
"I think this kind of exercise is very useful because a lot of the time, we don't realise what a number means until we see it visualised."
Christien Meindertsma grew the flax for this rug herself
Disillusioned with the fact that she couldn't trace a piece of linen yarn back to the flax field where it originated, Dutch designer Christien Meindertsma decided to acquire a pi...