Magis Voido Rocking Chair by Ron Arad for Magis

Voido Rocking Chair does not resemble by any chance the old rocking chair of our granparents. It is a modern rocking chair made out of rotational-moulded polyethylene, designed by Israeli designer Ron Arad for Italian company Magis. For Ron Arad it is typical to used curved lines and thus avoid straight ones. Voido Rocking Chair is available in non-lacquer version in orange, light grey or white finishes (suitable for outdoor use) and in lacquered version in glossy black or white finishes. 

Dimensions:
Height: 78cm
Width: 58cm
Depth: 114cm
Seat height: 50cm.
 

Richard Sapper

Born in 1932 in Munich, Germany. After studying philosophy, anatomy, engineering and a degree in business administration at the University of Munich he entered 1956 into the styling department of Daimler-Benz. 1958 he went to Italy, where he worked first for Gio Ponti, then for the “La Rinascente” department store, then until 1977 for a part of his activity with Marco Zanuso. 1959 he edited with Mario Spagnol the Italian edition of the diaries of Paul Klee. 1968 he organized with Pio Manzù and William Lansing Plumb an exhibition of the boundaries of technology for the 14th Triennale in Milan. 1970-1976 he was consultant of Fiat Auto for the design of experimental automobiles and of Pirelli for pneumatic structures an developped a concept of cars with flexible skin. 1971 he took part with Marco Zanuso in the MoMA exhibition “Italy, the New Domestic Landscape” with a transportable mini living unit built by Fiat and ANIC. 1972 he formed with Gae Aulenti a Study group to explore new ways for inner City traffic, a topic he further developped for an exhibit at the 16th Triennale 1979. Since 1980 he is the Corporate product design consultant of IBM, responsible for IBMs worldwide product design. 1985 –1996 he taught at a summerprogram of Yale University of Brissago. 1986 he took part at the 17th Triennale with an experiment of new forms of housing. 1986 he taught product design at the Hochschule für Angewandte Kunst in Vienna and from 1986 to 1998 he was Resident Professor for product design at the Akademie der Künste in Stuttgart, Germany. 1988 and 1990 he taught at the Domus Academy in Milan and 1995 at the Central Academy for Art ad Design in Beijing. Lectures in many Universities all over the world; since 1991 Visiting Professor at the University of Buenos Ayres, 1996 External Examiner of The Royal College of Art in London. Honorary RDI of the Royal Society of Arts since 1988. Winner of the Raymond Loewy award in Germany in 1992. Since 1997 member of the Communications Council of Siemens AG. His main interest has always been the design of technically complex objects. He has designed ships, cars as well as toothbrushes or wristwatches and almost anything in between. Products designed by him have won many national and international awards, among then ten times the Compasso d'oro in Italy. More than 15 are in the permanent design collection of the Moma. Exhibitions of his works were shown in Milan, New York, Paris and Barcelona in 1988 and 89. 1993 exhibition of his work in the Museum für Angewandte Kunst in Köln und Gewerbe in Hamburg and in the Moma in New York, 1994 at arc en rève in Bordeaux. Among his many clients are companies like IBM, Fiat, Alfa Romeo, Artemide, Alessi, Knoll International and many others.

Magis

Magis is the brand that has given a novel twist to domestic design, building its identity on incorporating leading edge technology into mass production. Founded in 1976 in the bustling north eastern corner of Italy by a newcomer to the furniture business, Eugenio Perazza, Magis is today a giant international design laboratory that constantly puts itself to the test, seeking technological sophistication and employing a highly diversified workforce. Magis seizes the day. It embraces the creativity of leading global designers (Richard Sapper, Jasper Morrison, Stefano Giovannoni, Marc Newson, James Irvine, Konstantin Grcic, Ron Arad, the Bouroullecs and many others) and channels it towards objects perched on the cutting edge. The company even earned kudos from the trendsetter's bible, Wallpaper, which placed Perazza on top of its list of "Ten who will change the way we live". Magis is 30 years old. Until a short while ago Magis was one of the few companies that manufactured objects in plastic. Today the number has increased considerably. Still, Magis uses the most advanced molding technologies and techniques; it was the first company in the world to apply air molding to aesthetical goods. Plastic will remain Magis' reference material, although it is now experimenting with others such as die-cast aluminum, aluminum metal sheet and wood. Magis is a company in perfect health because it has good projects to develop as well as good intellectual capital, which is the distinguishing feature of the company. Excellent designers, a good design team and an extraordinary supply chain. Magis is characterized by the multiplicity of its expressive languages, its search for a deep meaning of the project, and its ethics instead of aesthetics. Magis takes three/four years to turn the idea of a project into a finished product. Magis faces projects, both difficult and complex, taking high risks. Projects are completed as long as they are supported by a high spirit of experimentation and elevated technical cleverness. Magis works with very well-known designers, but it has always been open to work with young designers, even at the outset of their careers. Jean-Marie Massaud and Jerszy Seymour made their debut on the design scene thanks to the opportunities Magis gave them. Now Magis discovers new passions and punctually chases former design glories, adding them to the mix. There was the interlude with Charlotte Perriand, and new design chapters are being written with Robin Day, a genius of English design, Eero Aarnio, a genius of Finnish design and Pierre Paulin, a genius of French design. It is the price to pay for success. To reduce the possibility to be copied the entrance barrier needs to be elevated greatly. One will have to do complex projects with inventive loftiness and considerable engineering investments, and make moulds and equipment with high technical performance (technique is the ability of a company to make technology work). A qualitative distribution should too play an important role against copies selecting design-oriented companies and keeping me-too-oriented ones out.