Jason Miller’s antler lamps are "nature made better."

The Best Furniture: The Next Crop of Design Gurus

At a time when classic pieces of twentieth-century furniture design - from the Barcelona chair to the George Nelson bench to the Arco lamp - have become such a part of our aesthetic vernacular that even knockoffs have knockoffs, it's refreshing to see something experimental. After all, isn't that how great design starts in the first place? A handful of young designers are part of a new crop that's reinterpreting predecessors, reinventing materials and, above all, challenging even the most iconic pieces. Here are the best pieces of today - offerings that are sure to become the classics (and inspirations for knockoffs) of tomorrow.

Onedge seating by the Brothers Dressler.

Jason and Lars Dressler’s structures look as if they could belong to any time.

Recycled Paper Table
Matt Gagnon

In the 1970s, designer Frank Gehry experimented with cardboard, using a disposable substance to create furniture that redefined the material. Today, Matt Gagnon, a Brooklyn-based designer who used to work with Gehry, uses recycled paper to build sturdy tables. His rectangular forms are creatively slotted to hold reading material. Gagnon is of the mind-set that furniture design is the same as architecture, just on a smaller scale. The result of his approach when applied to this medium? A lightweight design from an industry heavyweight.

Onedge Seating
Brothers Dressler

Twin brothers Jason and Lars Dressler, both recent engineering graduates, paired up professionally to form the design studio Brothers Dressler. The Toronto duo has a keen interest in seating, as evidenced by the pieces in their fluid birch plywood series called "onedge," which are made from folding slats cut from a single piece of wood. Also available in clear acrylic, the seating is said by some to recall the early styles of Australian designer Marc Newson. The simple structures look as if they could belong to any time, and yet, they also look very much now.

Panier Side Table
Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec

Another pair of rising-star brothers, Frenchmen Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec, has been producing designs together since 1999, when the latter was only 23. After working with furniture manufacturers Vitra, Cappellini and Ligne Roset, and with fashion designer Issey Miyake, the Bouroullecs' latest work was produced by Kartell. The round Panier side table, made of sunburst-style strips of polycarbonate, doubles as a storage container and is available in eight colors. But hurry: The brothers' work, which already appears in museums around the world, is très collectible, so if you want to say you had them first, you better get on the ball . . .

Pendant
Michael Kerschbaumer

The ambient light radiating from Michael Kerschbaumer's sea urchin-like Pendant is so lovely that it's easy to overlook the materials from which it's made. More than 3,000 white, plastic zip-ties spray from the center in a design that earned the New York designer the grand prize in the 2005 Designers Lighting Forum's annual Festival of Lights. Incidentally, Kerschbaumer is also an aspiring super model . . . but then again, aren't we all?

Antler Lamps
Jason Miller

Former Jeff Koons assistant Jason Miller is making his own mark with a series of antler lamps that have been widely acclaimed as some of the most innovative new lighting fixtures of the millennium (so far). Made from glazed ceramic cast to look like deer antlers, Miller says they're "nature made better." Who knows if it's because of the wink to updated Western decor or because they're an animal-friendly statement, but Miller has a herd of followers, as do his aforementioned colleagues.

And these guys are only getting started . . .

Posted on August 28, 2006