"My main interest in furniture making is in taking a reductive approach to finding the boundary between reason and delight in the design of domestic objects.”
- Richard Naish
Three domestic objects that almost look familiar. A small, crafted surface on a tripod base is the perfect height of an end table, another bares a rectangular cradle with the recognisable proportions of a smartphone. The third resembles a minimalist clothes horse, big enough for a single garment slung over its frame.
Richard Naish’s series of experimental furniture (aptly titled Almost) is an exercise in limits. Better known for rendering entire houses with a unique sense of liveability and rich texture, here architect Naish repurposes fifty-year-old jarrah salvaged from stockyard fences from a South Island farm as domestic sculptures, designed to be used in the routine of daily life. His diminutive coffee table features a triangular top with blunted points. Precisely crafted, its inlay makes visible the dovetail join of its three intersecting legs. It bears the influence of the studio furniture movement that flourished in the 1980s and 90s; Naish marries the period’s embrace of woodworking and making with the hands with a daring restraint. The least amount of Jarrah is used for the most gain – this is a coffee table for one, its surface just big enough for a single cup or mug. It calls its user to attention; you get just one shot at the landing.
Naish’s structures present unlikely unions. They are elegant and playful – even funny, but they are also useful. His clothes horse, a simple hurdle form looks made to take up occupancy in a bedroom or lounge without demanding we know exactly what for. Dry your clothes, sling your jacket when you come through the door, you could also string spaghetti or build a hut.
The furniture we are used to living with too often fails us for us its rigidity (a place for everything and everything in its place). Overburdened by the task it is meant to perform the decorative bedroom chair becomes a wardrobe’s dumping ground, the coffee table drowns in a sea of once-read magazines and un-opened mail.
Naish’s structures suggest we can think about the furniture we live with, not as static objects but as verbs – agile and responsive to the different ways we occupy our homes. His coffee table asks the user to focus on the simple pleasure of a hot mug of coffee or glass of wine. Similarly, his diminutive phone holder and charging station (arguably an answer to the long-obsolete phone table) is a prompt for some improved human connection. When in this room, there is one small and dedicated spot for a phone and it’s not on the dinner table. It's no surprise that Naish, a master of home-making is interested in the design of the objects we use within them. The joy of Almost? These spare forms sharpen the view of the smallest domestic moments. Sitting down with a warm cup in the hands, a conversation, a pause as we walk through the door. These are props for living.
- Kim Paton
This initial ensemble is part of an ongoing series that explores the role domestic objects have in serving their domestic setting. Furniture must be a rational instrument fit for its function. It must have an appropriate scale and ergonomic order to its assembly. It is not a requirement of furniture to be poetic, but it must be reasonable.