IMM Cologne 2016: New Tendency

Back at Milan 2009 we stumbled by chance across “My Bauhaus is better than yours”, an exhibition featuring works by a group of Bauhaus University Weimar students. Although not unimpressed by what we saw, indeed we remember finding one or the other project very good, the majority of the works were for us a little too “student”, a little too obvious, which is not a criticism, it just meant we didn’t feel the need to write about the exhibition.

Seven years, and a legally obliged change of name later, “My Bauhaus is better than yours” has evolved into the Berlin based label New Tendency, a label who have found a language very much to our liking and one which they have translated into a highly individual portfolio of self designed and commissioned products.

In addition to presenting established New Tendency products such as, amongst others, the Click shelf by Sigurd Larsen or the Meta Table by Sebastian Schönheit, New Tendency also used IMM Cologne 2016 to present new products; the most impressive of which being without question the chair Throne.

Visually reminiscent of, and every bit as formally reserved as, Hans J. Wegner’s JH501 Round Chair, Throne is a much rawer beast. Crafted from powder coated aluminium and featuring a disorientating mix of curved and angular components Throne radiates a delightfully self-confident aura without being aggressive: there is nothing rude about Throne, far from it is a very welcoming and obliging object.

New Tendency talk about Throne working especially well as a free standing object, individually in a space; for our part however we can well imagine it en masse in, for example, a restaurant. But regardless of how one uses it, Throne is a most fitting new addition to the New Tendency portfolio and one which delightfully underscores the labels understanding of form, material and aesthetics.

More details can be found at www.newtendency.de