Sculptural Icons

Sculptural icons have a pervasive presence across various creative domains, influencing and shaping fields such as architecture, furniture design, industrial design and fashion. They combine artistic expression with practical functionality, proving that design can be both beautiful and useful.

A sculptural design attains iconic status when it plays a pivotal role in design history, marking key moments in creativity, cultural significance, new ways of living and aesthetic evolution. By challenging traditional notions of functionality, materiality and form, such designs push the boundaries of what is possible and influence future generations of designers. More than mere objects, they stand as symbols of progress and new visions of art and life.

A striking example is the slender Freeform Sofa (1946), by Isamu Noguchi, which elegantly blurs the lines between sofa and sculpture. Inspired by the idea of creating seating that resembled a ‘soft rock’, Noguchi shaped the sofa and its matching ottoman to echo the flat, rounded forms of river stones.

Isamu Noguchi was one of the twentieth century’s most important and critically acclaimed sculptors. The organic, low-floating seat of the Freeform Sofa departs from the conventional idea of a sofa with a high back and armrests and has since become a hallmark of mid-century modernism.
Production of the Freeform Sofa was limited in number during the 1950s. To date, only a few of these vintage originals have been found, with one exemplary piece held in the collection of the Vitra Design Museum. For over twenty years, Vitra has been manufacturing the reissued design in close collaboration with The Isamu Noguchi Foundation and Garden Museum.

The blurred lines between function and fine art are also clearly evident in Charles and Ray Eames's La Chaise (1948). The design is both an exploration of organic form and a functional chaise longue, epitomising the couple’s vision of creating comfortable and organically shaped objects for everyday use.

Trained as a painter, Ray Eames was part of an art movement that fed into American Abstract Expressionism, which came to dominate the international art world in the 1950s. It is no coincidence that the Eameses’ most exciting and enduring furniture designs were created in that decade and owed much to Ray’s close engagement with modern art. The La Chaise took its inspiration from the ‘Floating Figure’ sculpture by Gaston Lachaise. On her work with architecture and furniture design, Ray Eames once remarked: ‘I never gave up painting, I just changed my palette.’

Despite the fact that Ray Eames and Vitra did not commence production of the La Chaise until several decades later, it had a significant impact on the history of design as the chaise longue was developed side by side with the Eames Fiberglass Chairs. These chairs were the first to successfully mould the seat and back as a single piece for mass production. Although La Chaise was never suitable for large-scale production due to its intricate form and dimensions, the design remains a celebrated sculptural icon.

A few years later the Coconut Chair (1955) was developed in the studio of George Nelson, George Nelson Associates. The playful and unconventional shape captured the optimism of the 1950s and became a beloved symbol of mid-century modern design. The Coconut Chair evokes the era’s cocktail culture with a white shell and dark upholstery recalling an inverted shard of coconut and its three legs mirroring the fruit’s germination pores. As with the Freeform Sofa, the Coconut Chair was first manufactured in a limited number and only later went into continuous production towards the end of the 1980s when George Nelson initiated a relaunch in partnership with Vitra.

Sculptural icons can also signify a departure from traditional styles of living. Verner Panton’s Living Tower (1968/1969) is today still considered a renowned example of the avant-garde living concepts of the late 1960s and early 1970s. Composed of two foam elements with four horizontally suspended levels for seating or reclining, it prioritises human interaction over mass-market appeal. With the Living Tower, Verner Panton focused on the question of domestic life in the world of tomorrow, distancing himself from the traditional living room interior. As a trained architect, he favoured designing all-encompassing immersive environments. Panton once commented that few things held such horror as striding into a room to find a sofa, two chairs and a coffee table.

Other sculptural furniture icons break new ground in their novel use of materials and therefore inspire new ways of thinking. An example is Frank Gehry's Wiggle Side Chair (1972) made of the inexpensive and unconventional material corrugated cardboard. The contours of a small-scale architectural model in Gehry’s studio sparked the original idea. He began experimenting and playing around with the material, cutting it into shapes using a handheld saw and pocketknife. This led to the development of a larger series, which, in addition to the Wiggle Side Chair, included several other furniture designs, such as a bar stool, side tables, a dining table and a rocking chair.

Sculptural design icons resonate across time. Their cultural and conceptual significance endures, continuing to inspire designers, artists and thinkers. These works demonstrate that design is about more than functionality or styling; it is about challenging norms and reflecting deeper values that remain relevant long after initial commercial considerations have faded.