The iconic Knotted chair produced by Droog joins the Product Timecapsule.

The iconic Knotted chair produced by Droog‘s Marcel Wanders joins the Vignelli Center for Design Studies‘ Product Timecapsule.

The Knotted Chair became an iconic piece of design, fusing hi-tech materials with low-tech production methods. The rope is constructed of aramid and carbon fibers, which are knotted into the shape of the chair. The product is then impregnated with epoxy resin and hung in a frame to dry.

 “The chair is important to me, because it became such an icon of who I am. Vidal Sassoon said you only have one chance to make a first impression and this chair was that for me. We were investigating what could be done with carbon fibers and people normally use that material as if it’s a sheet for bending. I thought ‘no, no, it’s a fiber, a textile, so I have to make a textile design.’ So I didn’t start with sheets, I started with fibers and just made knots. Design doesn’t need to be dead perfect. It can have the imperfection of the human hand and the soul of its maker inside. It can have its own decorative quality and doesn’t have to be minimalist. It can be feminine in its handwriting. All these things came together in the Knotted Chair.”

The chair is part of permanent collections in the Victoria and Albert Museum (London), The Museum of Modern Art (New York City) and the Stedelijk Museum (Amsterdam).

About Marcel Wanders

“We are poets, secretly engineering”. Marcel Wanders is considered one of the most influential designers to date. Born in Boxtel in 1963, after graduating cum laude from Hogeschool voor de Kunsten, Wanders gained international recognition for the Knotted Chair produced by Droog Design in 1996.

Marcel Wanders has developed products and interiors for some of the most important brands in the world, including Alessi, Puma, Flos, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, MAC Cosmetics and Target. Wanders runs his own studio and is cofounder and Artistic Director of Moooi.

About Project Timecapsule

A time capsule is a historic collection of goods and/or information, usually intended as a method of communication with future generations. Product Timecapsule is a Vignelli Center for Design Studies Archival initiative in cooperation with the RIT Industrial Design program. The goal is to collect significant design artifacts, which, in conjunction with the final products they represent, create a multifaceted understanding of the design process. Each acquisition tells a rich story of its place in the history of design.