Habitat brings back archive "classics" for 60th anniversary collection

[Celerity]

https://www.dezeen.com/2024/04/29/habitat-60-years-of-design-anniversary-collection/









British furniture retailer Habitat has revealed its 60th-anniversary collection, which features collaborations with emerging designers alongside revived archive pieces like the chicken brick. Furniture and homeware by established designers including Sebastian Conran, Margo Selby and Tord Boontje populate Habitat's colourful 60 Years of Design collection, as well as work by newer talent such as furnituremaker Planq, ceramicist Silvia Kamodyová and artist Simone Brewster. Novel designs rub shoulders with re-released classics in the collection from Habitat, which is an icon of British affordable design but has had a tumultuous recent history of buy-outs and store closures.









Among the revived archive products is the chicken brick from 1964 – a ceramic oven dish for steam cooking and a classic from Habitat's first year in business – updated with a matte black glaze. Also back on the roster are the modernist-inspired 1970s Scoop chair and 2004's Ribbon light – a table lamp made of folded and powder-coated sheet steel, which according to Habitat has become a collectible.







Some of the new designs also nod to Habitat's past. Kamodyová referenced the 1980s Graffiti sofa in the colourful markings of her ceramics while the Lattice wire chair by Habitat designer Will Hudson is based on the wicker cone chairs of the 1970s and his bright red Akari four-poster bed was inspired by early Habitat catalogues. Other highlights include the metal Lucinda garden furniture, which has precise cut-outs intended to cast captivating shadows, and Planq's XY60 coffee and side tables with surfaces made from recycled denim waste and legs in bright pops of blue or yellow.









Habitat designer D'arby Mawson's Cayan salt and pepper grinders look like a sculptural version of a wooden stacking game, while Brewster's bold-hued rugs are based on her own hand-paintings of the female form. Sebastian Conran's contribution is a series of four lighting designs – including one inspired by the bulbous shapes of the Michelin Man – while Felix Conran designed mirrors with the gently contoured lines of river stones and Selby applied her graphic pattern designs to a range of textiles and bedding.

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[niyad]

1. Thank you so very much for sharing this amazing collection.

I was not familiar with Habitat (when I first saw the title, I was thinking Habitat for Humanity), but now am truly fascinated. Bookmarking to learn more after coffee later.