Joris Laarman (1979) graduated cum laude at the Eindhoven Design Academy in
2003. His radiator, entitled ‘Reinventing Functionality’(2003) won him
international acclaim. The design was taken into production by Droog Design,
the famous platform for contemporary Dutch design, and was purchased by Museum
Boymans van Beuningen. In 2003 Laarman established his Joris Laarman
Laboratory. Since then, he has produced an impressive collection of unique
designs. Laarman also works for a number of international design companies
renowned for their views on combining ornamentation with functionality. He has
written articles for design journals such as Domus Magazine and has given
guest lectures at various universities in Europe and at the Eindhoven Design
Academy. This year, his designs are on show in the Gemeentemuseum Den Haag,
the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam and the Design Museum in London. For someone
who left the design academy only a few years ago, Joris Laarman has an
impressive CV and strong personal views on design. ‘For our
generation of designers it is important that designs are actually taken into
production. Design isn’t art. Design must be functional. It is precisely the
reproducible quality of design that gives it added value. We don’t design for
museums alone. Of course it’s also important for our works to be exhibited.
Their poetic value should be appreciated, too. But that value should be
combined with functionality and new techniques’
In his designs, Laarman often refers to past periods in the history of art. He
is particularly fascinated by modernism. Laarman is very much against the view
that anything that serves no immediate purpose should be omitted from a
design. In his opinion, functionality and extravagance need not be mutually
exclusive. His thoughts on this matter are quite apparent from his lavishly
ornate ‘Reinventing Functionality’ radiator, which he designed in 2003. The
opulent ornamentation of this Baroque-style concrete radiator has a distinct
function – it serves to create a large heat-emitting area, essential for an
efficient radiator. Many present-day minimalist radiators may look good, but
in actual fact they have a limited heating capacity. ‘Many people
look down on ornamentation. They see it as a meaningless, trivial way of
sexing something up. I give ornamentation a clear function. I could of course
have designed some high-tech radiator with a large heating area. But it’s
precisely the irony that makes this design so exciting’. In his work,
Joris Laarman feels particularly drawn to objects that people tend to want to
hide away from sight. He is for example currently working on a design for
all-over ornamented wall sockets. ‘I want to release such objects
from their concealment and allow them to form part of an interior. I want to
turn them into something valuable. How to go about that is always the big
question. Any design is the outcome of a long search; that’s what makes the
process of designing so exciting’.
