Brit Insurance Design of the Year Award: Part 2

Success for Konstantin Grcic. The 43 year old German was today announced as “Category Winner: Furniture” at the Brit Insurance Design of the Year 2009 and now goes forward to the grand final.

MYTO by Konstantin Grcic

“It is tough creating a design classic, but the MYTO might just have achieved this through its rigorous experimentation and research, resulting in the technically very difficult outcome of a cantilevered plastic chair.” So commented the judges of the 2009 Brit Insurance Design of the Year award their assessment of the MYTO chair from Konstantin Grcic.

MYTO is a modern interpretation of the cantilever chair, with an admiring nudge towards the late Verner Panton. Moulded from BASF Ultradur® High Speed plastic the chair is characteristic of Grcic’s minimalistic work and is stackable, making it ideal for meeting rooms or wherever extra seating is regularly needed at short notice.

Few chair designs have proved so popular with the public or so inspirational and challenging to designers as the cantilever chair; and re-workings of the concept have a long tradition.

Konstantin Grcic has obviously caught the bug. In recent years he has not only has he developed the MYTO

Muji manufactured by Thonet Collection (Photo: Thonet)

chair, but has also created a reworking of the classic Thonet S43 with the Japanese retailer Muji.

If the MYTO chair will also be available from smow is still open; however, those looking to learn a little more about Konstantin Grcic and his work may be interested in his Hut Ab hat rack and ES shelving system for Moorman. Both of which, as with MYTO, take an established concept and interpret it in a modern, yet recognizable form.

And for lovers of the classic cantilever chair smow also offers the classic S43 from Thonet.

S 43F Classic from Thonet