FEATURED STORY
Bright prospects
Unusual times require people to be open for new and unconventional ideas – for gumpo that meant a combination of seating and table. “pony” is the name of the new family member in the normcore collection that Relvāokellermann has designed for gumpo. While the previous designs are characterized by a purist, architectural idiom, the new addition has a decidedly wilder look: An organically shaped upholstered seat that thanks to a flexible table top it offers a workplace for one person – or can be combined to form a group owing to its concealed castors. Into the creative process Ana Relvão and Gerhardt Kellermann then introduced the idea of bending the wood for the dynamic shape of “pony”. “We always seek to see the technology and craftsmanship of gumpo as the basis for new ideas,” explains Ana Relvão.
Consequently, “pony” consists almost entirely of wood and is produced largely in the company’s own workshop by hand. “Naturally, there is much more manual work involved than is customarily the case, but the end product definitely justifies the effort,” comments gumpo’s Sebastian Waibel. The outer shell is laminated and pressed into its shape; the column is a tube of several layers of veneer. The round table top can be turned in all directions for the sitting person. “Today, we need less space for papers and more flexible solutions for working on a laptop,” says Gerhardt Kellermann and adds: “As gumpo already has comprehensive craftmanship options when it came to creating “pony” the challenge was more a question of generating a new way of thinking.”
As a natural advancement of the successful normcore collection “pony” takes up its formal language yet still demonstrates its own character: “In developing the product we looked at the craftsmanship core of gumpo and then added textiles to it. The product came about in collaboration with the artisans,” explains Gerhardt Kellermann. The fabrics for the seat of “pony” are made from recycled plastic waste; take this fact together with the product being largely made on the firm’s own premises and on top of that the focus on wood as a natural material and it is certainly fair to say that the design of RelvãoKellermann demonstrates a sustainable approach to the entire concept. Moreover, with six different surfaces and just as many possible fabrics in colors from red to yellow there is ample choice for an individual color scheme. “We wanted with this product to bring something cheerful to interior design,” says Ana Relvão. Naturally, if preferred more subtle shades such as pale gray and black are also available. “Over the course of the years we have recognized that architects want customized solutions for their projects,” says Gerhardt Kellermann.
