This Milan Design Week, Nike is presenting “The Nature Of Motion,” a collaboration with 10 designers creating around ideas of natural movement. The exhibition will take place within Salone del Mobile, through April 17.
The various designs presented in “The Nature Of Motion” all seek to advance the potential of the human body in a synergy of form, function and motion, through conceptual, futuristic, purely practical approaches. The designs are formidable illustrations of Nike’s overall desire to lessen the gap between product and body.
BERTJAN POT
London-based, Italian furniture maker and sculptor, Martino Gamper, showcases a collection of drums that reference the rhythm of organic motion with a technical stretching of Flyknit (a textile unique to Nike) over plywood and secured with Nike lace. The Italian founders of the creative studio Zaven in Venice, Enrica Cavarzan and Marco Zavagno present oversized floor lamps and diffusers also with Nike Flyknit to form an installation inspired by the beauty of an athlete in action.
British designer Sebastian Wrong is featuring his ergonomic chair formation, intended as communal seating. From London-based designer Max Lamb are blocks made of heavy aluminum, granite, and polystyrene, all effortlessly levitating above an invisible film of compressed air and sensitive to the lightest touch, thereby challenging perceptions of weight and effort.
MAX LAMB
American designer Lindsey Adelman’s light installation is inspired by the natural movements of plants, while American architect Greg Lynn’s intelligent microclimate chair integrates sensors that calculate the body temperature of the sitter and adjusts accordingly.
Dutch designer Bertjan Pot’s is showing a series of resting pods in which he upholsters the inner tubes of a car, wheelbarrow, truck, and tractor with ropes, Nike laces, and belts, mixing artisanal hand-weaving techniques and high-performance materials.
MARTINO GAMPER
Finally, the Swedish duo Clara Von Zweigbergk and Shane Schneck, are presenting their collection of seating stools, which examine the interplay between balance and posture; more specifically how the human body interacts with static objects. Each stool requires its sitter’s cognitive engagement to balance and provides an active alternative to ordinary sedentary seating
GREG LYNN
