Arper presents new sustainable collections at Salone del Mobile

Like origami creations that fold paper into form, Aeeri bends a single sheet of steel into a slender, sculptural table. Incredibly thin and light, thin yet sturdy and sound, Aeeri appears created through sheer magic.

Aeeri radically dematerializes the table with a minimalist gesture, tracing the form’s line to find its very essence. The result is a table that’s pure and clean, timeless and elegant.

Aeeri’s form is a feat of construction inspired by high-tech engineering. Aeeri is made from a single sheet of steel just 1 millimeter thick, folded to create a tabletop that is rigid and strong, yet adapts to find stability on slanted floors.

“I’m an architect and a purist,” says designer Peter Kunz. “I like to minimize all things. I’ve long been drawn to the idea of monocoque (single-shell) construction, which is used to create automobiles and airplanes that are extremely strong but also lightweight.  A folded paper plane or an origami figure are mysterious and incredible because their forms are both minimalist and yet highly functional.

“The concept for the table came from my fascination with this kind of structural de-materialization. Reduction is also very important to me in architecture, for example the lightness and brightness of many modern Japanese buildings. I’m a fan of Jean Prouvé, the French architect and designer of the twentieth century, who applied a very reductionist aesthetic and non-traditional materials, like metal, to make domestic furniture. Similarly, I like the work of minimalist artists like Donald Judd or James Turrell, and in a way, the table is also like a piece of minimal art.”

Finished in black, white, or red-painted steel, the top pairs with matching metal legs, available in two different heights, for a sophisticated industrial look, or wooden legs in FSC-certified European oak, in either natural or black finishes.

“Most tables typically consist of a frame and a heavy plate that sits on top of it,” comments Kunz. “Instead, Aeeri really plays with the idea of lightness: a single bended steel sheet forms the top and bottom of the plate, the four legs are very light and sleek, and the five parts are simply screwed together. The bended steel plate is just a fine line, like a drawing, and it’s remarkably thin—the entire table top is only 4 mm thick. This minimal profile is quite different than the archetype of the traditional solid, weighty table, and it’s surprising to discover exactly how thin it actually is. Though large, it’s also absolutely stable. Thanks to its lightness, it’s an object that can easily be moved around a room or to another setting, and assembled in few minutes without tools.”

Aeeri is an exercise in efficiency, constructed of just five lightweight and sustainable components that ship flat-packed for minimal environmental impact. When its lifespan comes to an end, Aeeri can be simply disassembled and sorted for recycling.

“Using minimal and recyclable materials really shaped our thinking,” says Kunz. “With the monocoque construction, we were able to create a stable form while reducing the amount of raw material necessary. Aeeri also comes with a wooden leg option made from sustainably harvested European oak that can separate from the steel so it’s very easy to recycle the metal. The table is designed to be flat-packed to reduce the environmental impact of its transportation. Because it’s so lightweight and has a small shipping footprint, it consumes fewer resources.”

Designed by Studio Irvine, Juno 02 embodies new possibilities for plastic with a whisper, not a shout. In 2012, Juno redefined the plastic chair with the minimal gesture of its slim silhouette. Now, years later, Juno 02 reimagines this enduring expression in sustainable plastic and a new palette inspired by the natural world. At once elegant and efficient, simple and sleek, its subtle texture and finish bring refined materiality to the classic form.

Juno 02 recalibrates a timeless chair for a more sustainable future. Through material research, it is made at 70% with post-industrial recycled plastic with six expressive new colours intended for both residential and contract settings, and indoor and outdoor spaces. By retooling the mould, Juno 02 retains its sleek silhouette and strength but now requires less material than ever to produce.

“It’s the responsibility of the designer to create a product that can live for a long time,” explains Studio Irvine’s Marialaura Rossiello Irvine. For that reason, it’s important to continue to improve what you’ve already designed, in addition to developing new products. This could mean modifying the form, the materials, or the colors to remain relevant for different applications, and to reflect new advancements in materials and technology. That’s why we undertook the re-design of the Juno chair. The idea was not to develop a whole new product, but to improve on a design that’s already successful by using a new material that’s more sustainable. Not only is this an ecological point of view, it’s also an ethical way to work as a designer.”

Rossiello Irvine continues. “In 2020 we had already launched Juno Eco, which is made with 70% post-industrial recycled plastic. This more eco-friendly material reuses plastic waste from industrial manufacturing, and it also allows great control in terms of quality, colour, and the final result.  With Juno 02, not only did we use this more sustainable material, but we also refined the moulds to reduce the amount of plastic required to produce the chair. Underneath the seat there are now two voids in the structure that allow Juno 02 to be much lighter, but no less strong. Juno 02 now comes in six new colours, designed to reflect our changing relationships with space, and with our natural environment.

This lightweight, open-back chair is offered with and without arms, and in snow white, sage green, rust, turtledove grey, anthracite grey, and black. Comfortable and sturdy yet compact and stackable, Juno 02 is ideal for large-scale use, whether in hospitals, restaurants, offices, or public settings.

“The new colours are designed to be integrated into softer environments, whether those are home, hospitality, healthcare, or outdoor settings,” says Rossiello Irvine. “The palette uses nuances inspired by nature, The rust colour and the turtledove grey are the colours of clay, a natural material we often use for surfaces in many of our interior designs. The sage is a special green that I see on the doors of Parisian buildings, so it’s a colour that could be at home in a historical palazzo from the 1800s. The white is not a bright optical white, but softer and warmer, like ivory. There’s also a dark grey anthracite and a black. All these shades are totally different from the versions that were in production before.

Commenting on the changing colour changes seen since Juno’s original release, Rossiello Irvine notes there has been a clear change – a subtle shift toward softer colours, due to the blending and merging of sectors. “There are some colours that, now in 2022, I don’t feel are appropriate for an office or a house. We’ve introduced these new, softer colour options that don’t shout, but instead whisper in a very elegant way.”