Konstantin Grcic
Photo: Gerhardt Kellermann
"Citizen" is the name of the new lounge chair that Konstantin Grcic has developed for Vitra. Grcic recounts in conversation with Thomas Edelmann why it can be worthwhile to address ideas sustainably and why he finds it so exciting to try out simplicity beyond the pale of customary shapes.
Your new “Citizen” lounge chair is related to earlier projects for Vitra. Specifically, it resorts to components and ideas from “Waver”, an expansive garden armchair. Why?
Konstantin Grcic: "Landen" for the Vitra Edition was my first product for Vitra, designed back in 2007. In a broader sense, back then the focus was on furniture for the public space, furniture without a fixed typology. For me, it was an experiment, one associated with the hope that I would be able to go on working for Vitra and developing products for the company. In the following four years, various ideas for outdoor furniture were developed, but finally only one product was launched on the market, the "Waver" armchair. I liked the chair, whose textile seat shell was suspended at four points in a free-swinging tubular frame. Unfortunately, "Waver" did not work commercially, which always has many reasons. Although it was taken out of production again after a few years, I kept returning to the basic principle of "Waver" in discussions with Eckart Maise, who was head of the development department at the time. ‘What a shame’, we said, now there was an idea with a lot of potential, but we had not captured it yet with “Waver”. And so we began to work on a new interpretation of the original idea.
That’s unusual as the focus here is not on nurturing a product, but on a new object with a changed context, yet one that does not deny having a precursor. What in “Citizen” actually still stems from “Waver”?
Konstantin Grcic: We brought the furniture from outside to inside. While it may sound very simple to just adopt the initial idea for a lounge chair, the route to getting there was extremely difficult. Either we were sticking too close to “Waver” – and then there was no point in the new development. Or we moved too far away from it. We therefore decided to try things out in individual steps; some things we then jettisoned, but we nevertheless gradually made progress.
What was retained?
Konstantin Grcic: The basic idea of a frame structure with suspended seat remained. Then there’s the characteristic tubular frame, the rotatable base frame with the large paws that were intended for outdoor use but also function indoors …
... but everything above the frame has changed?
Konstantin Grcic: Thanks to its bend, the tubular frame has a slight cantilever effect, a mobility in the structure. At the same time, the frame encapsulates a spacious seat. In the case of "Waver" one sat in a seat sewn from canvas, which was suspended freely swinging at the shoulders and the two front corners at the tubular frame. In the new armchair, the seat and back are separated. They each follow their own logic. The back shell, which is available in two different versions - high and low - is upholstered and fixed to the frame. The seat is suspended from the frame and can swing. In the course of development, there were various thought models and options as to how best to implement this. After some detours - or rather empirical work - we finally came up with the solution with the three steel cables. They allow smooth, free movement in all directions.