'Pillow Computer' by Schimmel & Schweikle

Echo stool (Bird & tree) Contemporary art; Functional art; 2020; Wood, wood filament, resin, acrylic plaster, PU-foam and hardware Measures: H 41.5, W 32.2, D 37.2 cm This unique p...

Pillow lounge chair (prototype) Sizes: width 129 cm, depth 118 cm, height 87 cm material: wood, PU-foam, faux fur, car paint edition: prototype, unique piece. Schimmel & Schweikle have announced their first solo exhibition 'A tree full of splinters' in the Everyday Gallery in Antwerp, Belgium. Rooted in material theory, Schimmel and Schweikle’s new series of works examines wood and its relationship to human progress, taking a close look at how it’s historical, cultural and political narratives have shaped the way we think of a design for centuries. Exploring the space between 3D modeling and craft, they invite us to reconsider the hierarchies between the handmade and then digitally manipulated. Simulated wooden ornaments assume a contiguously relational form to the texture they are mimicking, indistinguishable from the original except for the thin lines that give away it's 3d printed manufacturing. Wooden shelving in the shape of a branch, so perfectly tree-like that it replicates itself; the branches organic bulges repeated as if it were a block print. The pieces make you wonder which form would qualify as ‘more real’, an algorithmic search engine might decide on the 3D printed branches, as the articulation of physical properties that are attributed to wood are so perfectly pronounced in this digitally produced form. Baudrillard predicted that the simulation will become more real than the real, yet in the work of Schimmel and Schweikle they remain equals, assisting each other in function and form. Schimmel & Schweikle is an ongoing collaboration between Janne Schimmel and Moreno Schweikle. Their work revolves around the nexus of technology, art, and culture. In that realm, Schimmel & Schweikle focus on developing concepts that deal with the closing gap of the digital and physical realm. In their latest ´Pillow.pillow´ collection they use 3D modeling software to unite opposite forms of expression into non-confirmatory objects. The strict lines of the modern-style furniture that the pieces are based on are emphasized by a shiny, lacquer-like finish achieved by coating the pieces in car paint, while the blob-like upholstery additions are finished in a soft artificial fur. Each piece is the result of a digital modeling experiment, which the designers have translated into a real object. The two chairs in Schimmel & Schweikle’s Pillow. Pillow series combine archetypal, Minimalist furniture designs with organic shapes, “morphing” them together to create new forms. Resulting in a dualistic form of expression that challenges the need for an uncontaminated narrative. The third piece in the collection features a standard desktop computer combined with green, fur pillows, and is intended to sit on the floor of a living room. The way the computer has become so intertwined with our lives cannot be ignored. That’s why the ´Pillow.pillow Computer...

Original and Authentic therapeutic Toy for children by Renate Müller, East-Germany, GDR, circa 1973. A Drum-shaped pouf with handles, made of jute...

Moroccan floor pillow bohemian pouf with silver sequins and long fringes. This handcrafted vintage Moroccan boho tribal floor pillow or pouf is ...