Rufus Knight

Our good friend Rufus Knight is an Everyday Needs regular and Associate at Fearon Hay Architects. We asked him to share with us his favourite Everyday Needs pieces. 

1. 100 Chairs by Martino Gamper

Martino Gamper’s benchmark work ‘100 chairs in 100 days in 100 ways’ was, and still is, a huge influence for me in the way I approach interior and object design. Collecting discarded chairs from London streets over a period of two years and creatinga ‘three-dimensional sketchbook' that questioned authenticity, function, reproduction, and ergonomics. The project is fullof vitality and executed in such a human and gregarious fashion which, to me, characterises all of Gamper’s work.

2. Iris Hantverk body brush

In the late 1800s a small initiative started in Stockholm for visually impaired artisans and aimed to support their ability to live off craftwork – brush binding & basket building crafts were, and still are, central to this movement. In 2012 local government withdrew the disbursement of aid and small handcraft companies like Iris Hantverk had an uncertain future. The company has since been purchased by a small group of long-term employees and still produce all products by hand using local Swedish timbers and natural bristle materials like horse hair and coconut and agave fibres.

3. Sori Yanagi kettle

Born 1915 in Tokyo, Sori Yanagi was one of the most celebrated post-war designers in Japan. His adage of ‘true beauty is not made, it is born naturally’ is clear in icons of modern design like the brushed stainless kettle. Notable that Yanagi worked for a number of years in the 1940’s with Charlotte Perriand as his organic forms combine western industrial design with Japan’s native artisanal traditions.

4. Auböck brass bookends

Werkstätte Carl Auböck was founded in Vienna in 1900 and developed a design language that became an essential part of Austrian Modernism. From the mid-20th century the workshop has been directed by the fourth-generation of Auböck and has produced objects that continue a lineage of quality, formal beauty, and humour. These patinated brass bookends capture the Auböck signature perfectly.

5. Auböck brass bookends

Bing is something of an anomaly in the New Zealand design & art community. His prolific output of ceramics, metalwork, and timber sculptures is unmatched and has always had a sophistication that seems to borrow from local influences but extend beyond the traditional New Zealand design vernacular – a lot like Mrkusich. Similarly, these gestural postcards remind me of the vibrant European avant-gardists like Jean Arp or the salient forms of Brancusi but whose colour palette seems to speak specifically of New Zealand.