Unusual Materials

Kayla Towns

ID 3311.002

GAINES

20 October 2011

Blog 6: Unusual Materials

For this blog, I had a hard time choosing what unusual material I would focus on. There are a lot of really cool ideas out there that are eco-friendly and beautiful at the same time. Although the material I chose is not eco-friendly, it is really quite beautiful in its own right considering what it is made out of.

After searching through many different unusual materials, I stumbled upon a very unique Chaise Lounge. Can you guess what it’s made out of? It’s a little out there, but this chair is made out of balloons, thousands of them! This lounger is actually an art piece, designed by Pini Leibovich, that is on exhibition in Israel at the Design Museum Holon. The most recent exhibition, which included this lounger, was held from May to September, highlighting many Israeli artists and designers work. Their instructions were to create something “straddling tradition with innovation” with whatever materials they wanted to use (a very open-ended charge). The Happy Material, as Leibovich calls his lounger, is not the only balloon chair he has created. There are at least two others that I could find. Pictures of these chairs are posted at the end of this blog. Leibovich is not only a consumer goods designer, but also a teacher at Shenkar College of Engineering and Design in Tel Aviv. Although he spends much of his time teaching, he loves to experiment with color, form and different materials. His balloon chairs have been featured in several different places, such as Zilla Online Magazine and Dwell Magazine. His work is all over the internet, proof by the multiple websites that contain information and pictures of his work.

In conclusion, although my material was not necessarily eco-friendly, it most certainly is beautiful. Pini Leibovich’s work is worth recognizing and investigating and I am glad that I took the time to check out what he does. It’s inspiring to see others so inspired by the simple. Life is most certainly about the little things.