Austrian designer Laurids Gallée’s Fever Dreams chair occupies a somewhat peculiar space, straddling the line between furniture and Surrealist sculpture.
Constructed from solid Oregon pine, also known as Douglas fir, it’s decorated with a grid of 10-centimeter (approximately 4-inch) squares interrupted by images that seem plucked from the pages of a fairy tale. Florals, celestial bodies, mythical creatures — together, they form a narrative that feels both ancient and new, comforting yet uncanny.
“We loved the whimsicality of the chair,” says Margaux Monier, manager of Sydney-based furniture gallery Studio ALM, which is offering the piece on 1stDibs. “Its engravings give it a dream-like quality that contrasts well with its rigid structure.”
Gallée graduated from the Design Academy Eindhoven, in the Netherlands, in 2015. Now based in Rotterdam and represented by Belgian gallery Objects with Narratives, Gallée blends traditional craft with modern technology, using laser engraving, airbrushing and hand pigmentation to breathe life into his playful creations, which often incorporate folkloric themes.
Conceived in 2022 as part of a limited-edition series, the Fever Dreams collection — which includes the chair, a stool, a table and shelving — embodies his unique approach. “The pieces show a psychedelic array of seemingly random graphical components woven into the pattern, inviting a sense of discovery in the viewer, as each angle, side and corner feature different drawings, textures and colors,” Gallée explains. “The drawings show, among other things, poppies, which are synonymous with both sleep and ecstasy.
“With Fever Dreams, I was thinking a lot about ornamentation and traditional marquetry,” he continues. “But instead of applying ornament to a piece, I wanted the piece itself to be the ornament. It’s not decorative in the usual sense. It tells a story, with elements that may resemble another time, but reimagined in a more contemporary way.”
Monier sees this fusion of the historical and the contemporary resonating with today’s collectors. “The engravings are principally classical, but the piece is otherwise modern,” she says. “We imagine this amalgamation would appeal to a multitude of different design enthusiasts.”
Since the chair’s introduction at Studio ALM’s newest showroom, in the Sydney suburb of Paddington, it has drawn reactions as varied as its many fanciful images. “There is a lot to be said about the elusivity of the piece,” Monier says. “Different details draw the attention of different people. And this, to us, is part of its beauty — the mystery it exudes draws everyone in. The details are integral to its appeal, as they are always inviting a new interpretation.”
For Monier, the chair’s true audience is the fantasist. “As the name of the piece suggests, the ideal buyer is a dreamer,” she says, “someone who sees more than just a chair.”
