IKEA Wassily considers the banality of Modernist design and how functionalist efforts and progress are manifest as unattainable luxury objects. Objects so functional and idealistic have become yet another object of remote desire by the majority of consumers. The original Wassily Model MB3 chair was designed to have no welding points for hasty economical manufacturing. Now at a price point (new in 2020) of $2500+ it has become an paradox of functionalist design-pragmatic but exclusive. In the instance of IKEA Wassily, through redesign and representation, the luxury object promotes a level of attainability. Through obvious branding the consumer who can afford the general IKEA price point may now sub-consciously perceive this object as pragmatic. Product copy has been written to accompany the artwork from the perspective of a product copywriter. The copywriter is attempting to attract the interest of a distinguished design consumer with a wide & varied range of income, all the while catering to an Idealist furniture designer.
Please feel free to move and rotate the chairs around into classic interior layouts and see the timelessness yourself. Images were sourced from Susan S.Szenasy's book LIGHT & The International book of LOFTS by Slesin-Cliff-Rozensztoch.
The all brand new re-design IKEA WASSILY MBK2020 chair ABOUT THIS PRODUCT
The IKEA Wassily Chair represents everything the modern and contemporary consumer currently demands. Vintage Modernist style, lightweight, minimal, clever and sustainable - yet affordable. Affordable and sustainable how? The now restored frame had been disposed of and the straps were sourced from an accumulation of Ikea bags over the years. The bags still function and go un wasted because they have dual sets of handles when purchased - smaller handles and shoulder straps. The smaller straps remain, rendering the bags still useable. The reclamation of straps creates a pride in the consumer because they have attached themselves to the progressive effort in creating a practical and sustainable chair.
IKEA has a history of presenting itself as an affordable, contemporary, mass produced atelier offering an opportunity to become a consumer of the forward thinking design narrative. Conceptually the Wassily (aka Model MB3) chair by Marcel Breuer originally presented itself as an object and not as a chair. It is a witness of functionalism post WWI and examines itself to display what a chair is outside looking in; hovering shadows(silhouettes?) of leather hugging the curves of new idealist industrial steel. These straps trace minimal element lines of an aristocratic bygone era in chair design thus forming a recognizable, familiar, and functional object. The Ikea Wassily Model MBK 2020 achieves this yet again.
