Lockdown, Furnishings-Style

Edited by Karen D. Singh -- Interior Design, 3/1/2007 12:00:00 AM

At first blush, it smacks of a reality-TV challenge. Design and architecture studios, from around the globe, have to create furniture, light fixtures, and fabrics destined for one whole-environment furnishings collection from Bernhardt Design. The catch? All eight teams are operating in a vacuum, unaware of their phantom colleagues. Participants know only that their designs must embody "permanence and quality. . . timelessness and simplicity." Suspense derives not from guessing who will be sent home but from wondering if the items can hang together under the name Global Edition. Thanks to Bernhardt's expertise as a design incubator, they do.

Creating simple furniture requires both designers and manufacturers "to have the passion and tenacity to experiment until they get it just right," says creative director Jerry Helling, who conceptualized the project.

Arik Levy's Milix sofa somehow finds echoes in Jeffrey Bernett's Remy lounge chair, in their wide, embracing seats. The floating feel of Shin Azumi's glass-topped Halo table didn't really inspire the weightlessness of Christian Biecher's armless Onda chair—but could have. PearsonLloyd chose a tapered line for the back of the Coast stacking chair, as did Yves Behar for the walnut seat of the insectlike Fly bench.

Debuting at New York's International Contemporary Furniture Fair, the series will comprise 20 items. Other notable contributions are two armchairs, Lievore Altherr Molina's Celon in stainless steel and CuldeSac's Whisper in maple; PearsonLloyd's Revolve lamp; and Biecher's textile series, titled Dot, Circle, and Cross.

In 1980, Bernhardt Furniture founded Bernhardt Design as a contract division, located in North Carolina's once-thriving hub. Recent years have seen the unit stretch to straddle both contract and residential sectors, largely by championing designers such as Ross Lovegrove, Patrick Norguet, and Fabien Baron. But it's as a patron that Bernhardt Design truly deserves fame—whether that entails developing a course for undergraduates at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California, or cosponsoring the ICFF Studio competition for up-and-coming talent.

P.O. Box 740, Lenoir, NC 28645; 828-758-9811; bernhardtdesign.com. circle 350

Clockwise from top: An 18-wheeler displays the name of this 118-year-old company. Arik Levy's Milix sofa is upholstered in Flame wool. PearsonLloyd's Revolve lamp has a high-gloss resin base. Polished aluminum legs give Levy's Prisma table a twist. The top is walnut. A Celon chair by Lievore Altherr Molina rolls off the assembly line. Stainless-steel armatures support the leather-covered seat.

Clockwise from top left: CuldeSac's Whisper chair has leather upholstery. The frame is subtly textured maple. Ready to ship, the chairs will be delivered to showrooms nationwide.

Clockwise from top: Polished stainless-steel legs support the walnut seat of Yves Behar's Fly bench. Shin Azumi combines glass, stainless steel, and maple for his Halo table. Jeffrey Bernett designed the Remy chair in Flame. Aro stools by Lievore Altherr Molina are made of stainless steel. Molded plastic, shown in Flame, distinguishes PearsonLloyd's Coast chair. Dot, Circle, and Cross cotton-polyester textiles are by Christian Biecher. Snow leather covers his Onda chair.