^{Image courtesy by Michael Anastassiades}

Michael Anastassiades for Herman Miller

London-based designer Michael Anastassiades has debuted his first range of furniture for US company Herman Miller, in an installation themed around a 1915 painting. Anastassiades, who is best known for his sculptural lighting, unveiled his first collection of stools alongside a range of tables and huge versions of his mobile-style lights at the Herman Miller showroom in Milan Design Week 2016.

^{Image courtesy by Michael Anastassiades}

The stools consist of matching round seats and bases, with the smallest version designed to double up as a side table or dining seat. The tallest is for bar seating, while the mid-height is for counters. Each has one solid round wooden leg and a second leg made from brass with a cross bar. Anastassiades said that he had wanted to create furniture that was almost timeless, to reflect Herman Miller’s existing range of classic products by designers like Charles and Ray Eames. “I don’t think it’s an element of nostalgia, but it’s more about the quality of those pieces that has made them survive time,” he said. “I was interested in those qualities and stripping the product to its bare essentials to the point that what remains is really the essence of an object, rather than trying to load the product with information.”

^{Image courtesy by Michael Anastassiades}

Called The Double Dream of Spring, a reference to a 1915 painting by 20th century Italian metaphysical artist Giorgio de Chirico, the installation is housed in a grey room at the front of Herman Miller’s space, on Corso Garibaldi. Cypriot-born Anastassiades started his London studio in 1994 after studying Indsutrial Deisgn at the city’s Royal College of Art. He launched own London-based lighting brand in 2007, and has since only collaborated with a small number of large design companies like Flos. His first ever commercial furniture piece – a two-seat sofa – was launched last year by London design brand SCP to mark its 30th anniversary. But the range for Herman Miller marks his first venture into mass-produced furniture.

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