Apres Planet Christmas Edition

4 FEATURES
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Konstantin Grcic has done it all...
From
to
enches
oats
www.apresfurniture.co.uk
By Wessel Stoltz
When, in life, you have reached the point where you can afford a yacht, you’re
allowed to sit back, smile to yourself and watch the bottlenose dolphins play in your
wake while one of the deckhands fixes you a sunset-tipple of Krug. Because, let’s
face it, you’ve made it…
When, however, it comes to making it, yachts seem to serve also as a measuring
stick of another sort; being a top class designer.
Zaha Hadid designed boats for Kenny Schachter and Blohm+Voss. Philippe Starck
had the enviable task of designing the rather infamous Venus for the old Apple boss,
Steve Jobs. Foster + Partners combined a cruise yacht with a day boat to bring to
life a stunning 20 foot vessel called Alen 68 and Frank Gehry recently unveiled his
designs for a completely wooden boat for, well, himself.
What, apart from now being able to add the names of seafaring vessels to their
CVs, these designers have in common is the simple fact that they are the cream of
the crop when it comes to the world of design.
It comes as no surprise, then, that Konstantin Grcic has been making so many waves
in the design world that he, too, was commissioned to build a boat.
Grcic, born in 1965, trained first as a cabinet maker at The John Makepeace School
(Dorset, England) before studying Design at the Royal College of Art in London.
His early career was greatly influenced by Jasper Morrison (and his minimalist
designs) under whom Grcic began his career in the early 80s. Grcic soon after
established his own practice, Konstantin Grcic Industrial Design (KGID), in Munich
where he worked on everything from furniture to lighting for the likes of Authentics,
BD Ediciones, ClassiCon, Flos, Magis, Mattiazzi, Muji, Nespresso, Plank, Serafino Zani,
Thomas-Rosenthal and Vitra.
Many of his products have received international design awards, such as the
prestigious Compasso d`Oro for his MAYDAY lamp (Flos) in 2001 and his MYTO chair
(Plank) in 2011. His serious and functional works are held in such high regard that they
form part of permanent collections in some of the world´s most important design
museums (including MoMA/New York and Centre Georges Pompidou/Paris).
It is because of these impeccable design credentials that Grcic was approached
to help design a colossal racing yacht for fashion heavy weights, Hugo Boss. The
yacht, built using carbon fibre, is not only lighter and faster than its predecessors,
but is also a thing of beauty and pays homage to its sponsor by emulating Hugo
Boss’ tailoring on the seams of the boat. If ever a round-the-world-race winning
boat was built, this is it!
By adding his name to the exclusive list of yacht-designing-designers, Grcic has
cemented his place among the top echelons of his field.
5 FEATURES