Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/32301
on our radar Force of Nature T 30 CULTURED here are only a handful of people responsible for defining contemporary de- sign. Hella Jongerius, whose works spans from Ikea merchan- dise to rarefied collectibles from Galerie Kreo, is among this group of designers who commu- nicate through the language of design. So it’s little surprise then that Jongerius was tapped as the fourth designer for HSBC Private Bank’s Connection Collection. Explains the company’s global head of marketing Tony Joyce, “The brief seeks to interpret and explore connections, since communication between individuals and uncom- mon ambitions form the basis of all great ideas.” Hon- orees have previously included Arik Levy, the Bouroullec brothers and Max Lamb. For Connection Collection Jongerius designed Daylight, a table comprising two surfaces. Multicol- ored blocks of semi-transparent resin are layered upon blocks of opaque color, with individual blocks sporting different sheens. To the eagle-eyed viewer, the perceived color of each block changes according to position and time of day. “Look at nature and at paintings,” Jongerius says, “colors have so many layers of brilliance, clarity, changeability. They are never the same but change constantly ac- cording to their contexts and surrounding colors.” Daylight injects that vari- ation into industrial design. Hella Jongerius’ Daylight table for HSBC’s Connection Collection (and Design) Jongerius says inspiration comes from paints she recently created, a line “which reveals different hues depending on the source of light. Daylight table is an extension of that research into color perception and the influence of natural light.” The roots of the project extend even farther, to 1997. That year a certain bright red pigment was banned from ceramic glazes, due to the presence of toxic cadmium. In response Jongerius applied industrial spray paint to Red White Vase to re- capture the sensation. Series in 2003, 2007, and 2010 reissued the original attenuated, grenade-like form featuring RAL and NCS color schemes, as well as combinations of mineral and chemical glazes. A precedent-setting collaboration with Royal Tichelaar Makkum, applied different colors to B-Set cups and plates at different times of the glazing process. This lineage also includes another table, a walnut-and-resin mash-up produced for Kreo in 2008, called Swatch. Daylight forges multiple connections—between neighbors in the color spectrum, between industrial design and natural phenomena, and between Design Miami/’s observant passers-by. Yet its major theme is uniquely Jongerius. “Colors that change according to their contexts are not to be found in industrial paints and fabrics,” she says. “The industry has created a large palette of standardized colors that remain the same under all circum- stances. Very clever, naturally, but in my view something has been lost.” This Dutch force considers the building blocks of our constructed environment, and she questions how those basics themselves were constructed.—David Sokol