Colin Knight exhibition explores "troubling connections" between mid-century design and world war two
Designer Colin Knight has presented an exhibition of conceptual furniture called Hero's Wreck at Superhouse Gallery in New York with materials and symbols relating to world war two, including a piece based on the Eames glider chair prototype.
Virginia-based designer Knight, created the exhibition at Superhouse Gallery as a conceptual story between a fictional British fighter pilot and an actual Nazi pilot, Joseph Beuys, experiencing different stages of war.
The story is told in a series of leather panels that were displayed on the wall of the Tribeca gallery.
It references complicated mid-century design and art legacies, such as Beuys' participation in the Nazi air force before his career as an artist and the leveraging of mid-century modern design talents such as Charles and Ray Eames for the war effort.
"One of the more subtle underlying narratives shows the ultimately direct and troubling connections between mid-century design and world war two," Knight told Dezeen.
"When wartime manufacturing hit full steam in the early 1940s, many furniture manufacturers gained military contracts to begin producing objects such as weapons, gear, and aviation components," he continued.
"With new manufacturing abilities and worker skillsets gained after the war, furniture production and designs were heavily influenced, especially with materials such as plywood, fiberglass and aluminum."
The most explicit reference to this dynamic is Knight's Pilot's Seat reading chair, a direct reference to the Eames prototype for a lightweight, moulded-plywood seat for an engineless glider.
It features a wall divider shaped like the hull of a plane and a reading lamp resembling a gun turret.
"While the piece symbolizes the characters call to adventure/journey into war, the piece explores an unhealthy and unrealistic romanticization of war as a heroic conflict," said Knight.
"I see the characters/user sitting in the chair, imagining seeing the world and travel in planes, while in reality they will face the horrors of world war two."
All of the pieces in the exhibition are functional, a constraint decided on by Knight and gallerist Stephen Markos so that the "comfort and functionality in the work helps break them out of any 'gallery setting only'", according to Knight.
Other pieces in the exhibition include a hanging lamp with rice paper shade created in the shape of a wing and an aluminium-and-leather chair in the shape of a liferaft.
As well as, a chair in the shape of a stretcher, a shed that represents the different phases of Beuy's actual survival of a plane crash in Crimea and a bleached maple table that showcases tableware adorned with symbols representing the characters and their "rebirth" after the war.
Knight said that the focus on fighter planes aims to emphasise the way war design can be romanticised despite its ultimately violent function.
"By romanticizing the object, we view it only for its heroic narrative, the same way an Eames splint, 200,000 made to contain mass trauma to the limbs of young American soldiers, now hang among the homes of collectors," said Knight.
The showcase demonstrated Knight's belief that storytelling can be an important function of design because of its "intimate relationship to humanity".
"Investigating the relationship between world war two and mid-century design has emphasized to me the fact that design always reflects the world around it through method, material, and form," said Knight.
"As history continues to repeat itself, I am left wondering and eager to see how modern furniture will reflect this moment and how designers will tell those stories."
Other collectible design shows that tell a story include an exhibition by Nifemi Marcus-Bello that explores the exploitation of natural resources and a Kim Mupungilaï collection that probes her own multi-ethnic identity.
The photography is by Matthew Gordon.
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