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Originally uploaded by smomokomorton

When Naka Designs was faced with the challenge of designing a piece for the annual Design After Dark (an event which celebrates design in Colorado and also raises acquisition funds for the department of architecture, design, and graphics at the Denver Art Museum) we had no idea what was in store for us. Typically in past years the event was a huge production where limited teams were accepted to participate and those that did had a very deep commitment both in terms of time and money. This year the committee opted for a new approach: they paired participants with a furniture piece from the contemporary furniture collection as well as a word ending in “ish”. We panicked at first when we learned our furniture piece was the Vanilla Fudge” Chaise Longue (1998, by Ross Menuez) and our word was “frumpish” but we quickly rebounded once we teamed up with our favorite retail store (Mod Livin’) and created a wonderful piece that is both functional as well as aesthetically pleasing and cleaver.

Here’s some more info on the piece:

VANILLA FUDGE CHAISE + FRUMPISH = “FELT-UP”

Felt-up is a wall-mounted felt shelving system, created from a continuous band of felt attached at varying intervals to its structural components, creating a sleek, hip and unexpected custom storage and display system.

The Vanilla Fudge Chaise by designer Ross Munuez was our first point of departure for the project. In this chair, bands of nylon are held in place by a rigid steel frame. The chair gains a unique expression of material which produces multiplicitous use: by allowing the two systems to exist on their own, the qualities of each create variation in how the chair is used. If one sits close to the structural elements, the nylon has less give and the chair becomes more rigid. If one sits in the middle, equally distant from the steel frame, the nylon achieves maximum deflection and is therefore softest. Despite the fairly archetypal organization (legs, seat, back) the Vanilla Fudge Chaise achieves a richness of use.

Our goal then was to use a material in a unique, unexpected application. This action in itself would be novel for the sake of novelty unless something significant was gained by the unusual juxtaposition of material and use. In recruiting a fabric to do the work of shelving, we opened a utilitarian function of storage and display to the flexibility, softness and mutability of cloth.

Enter FRUMPISH. Unlike rigid shelving, felt shelving is allowed to deform according to its charge. This deformation is a new quality to shelving; by being allowed to warp and bend additional means of use emerge through strategically placed slits in the felt band and reveal space for other non-conforming items such as wine bottles, periodicals, or whatever you can squeeze in. FELT-UP celebrates its frump by making the most out of its sag!