Elephant Wood, black, European oak

The Design

The Kristalia Elephant Wood is the third in the series of the highly individual Elephant shell chairs created by Neuland Industriedesign 2010/11 for the Italian furniture manufacturer Kristalia. Cast from polyurethane and available in a range of colours, the one-piece seat shell is identical to the Elephant Tube and Elephant Sledge and as with its cousins is modelled on the eponymous the grey pachyderm. And this analogy to the animal kingdom is particularly fitting to the Elephant Wood with its natural frame. For while the Elephant Wood has the same organic, living character of the Elephant chair family; unlike the other models its frame is not made of steel tubing, but solid beech or oak. Thus the Elephant Wood delightfully expands the Kristalia collection and presents a noble addition the functional all-purpose chair family.

The oak frame of the Elephant Wood, warm and inviting.

Designer

Founded in 1999, the Munich based studio Neuland Industriedesign, a.k.a. Eva Paster and Michael Geldmacher initially concentrated on general industrial design work before moving on to focus on furniture design. In collaboration with manufacturers such Kristalia or Nils Holger Moormann, the duo have developed furnishing projects that have won numerous awards for their modern functional designs, in particular the Elle Deco Design Award, a nomination for the Compasso d'Oro, the Chicago Good Design Award, the IF Product Design Award and a nomination for the Design Award of the Federal Republic of Germany. In the design process Paster and Geldmacher's intention is not primarily about creating beautiful products, rather Neuland Industriedesign seek to create objects which reflect contemporary social developments.

Made in Italy - Designs from Kristalia

Manufacturer

Kristalia has provided young, innovative Italian furniture design since 1994, designs which unify sophisticated aesthetics and formal minimalism. Expressing a high degree of creativity and imagination the Kristalia portfolio is exemplified by visually charming objects such as the Elephant chair family and individual items such as the Rotor coffee table. Favouring unconventional production techniques and materials such as, for example, ones borrowed from the automotive industry, such as with the chair Elephant Wood in which Neuland Industriedesign have employed polyurethane, a material more normally used in electro-medicine.

Better living with Kristalia: Elephant Wood chair and Sushi dining table

Production

Like all Kristalia Elephant Chairs from Neuland Industriedesign the Elephant Wood features a one-piece, injection moulded rigid polyurethane seat shell: and thus profits, like the other models from the outstanding advantages of this innovative, highly durable, material. The frame is made of solid beech, either painted in the colour of the seat shell, or made from European oak and thanks to the plastic foot glides suitable for all types of floors. As with the Elephant Tube and the Elephant Sledge the Kristalia Elephant Wood is available in various tasteful colours and contains a high degree of renewable and/or recyclable materials. In addition, for Kristalia sustainability also means that a chair such as the Elephant Wood should survive not just this but also future generations: and the best recycling is not having to.

Neuland Industriedesign