A limited set of 12 Bone Chairs by Joris Laarman went on exhibition in the New-York gallery Friedman Benda, the last of a series that is artistic as it is celebratory of the usage of advanced technology in modeling everyday items. The Bone Chair series is the masterpiece of the Dutch designer, and it is displayed in some of the most important modern art museums around the world. The chair is molded from a mix of marble, porcelain, and a bit of resin. The result of using such unconventional materials is undoubtedly one of the most elegant artifacts in the context of 21st century furniture. This chair comes after the Aluminium chair, the Plastic chair, and many others. The Friedman Benda gallery explains “What makes the Bone Chair series so successful is the way it integrates elegant lines and compelling inspiration with a powerful and provocative form. The chair was catalyzed first by Laarman’s interest in the technology and the very complex problem of building the chair, but as the idea became a reality, the designer returned to the natural qualities of a living thing and the importance of balance. 
This inspiring synthesis of digital processes and traditional inspiration has led Paola Antonelli, senior curator of design and architecture at MoMA to argue that Laarman is a new kind of designer reflecting both the power of innovation and the ‘organic tradition’ that goes back to Art Nouveau.” When starting this collection, the natural inspiration was rather explicit in Laarman’s words: “Trees have the ability to add material where strength is needed, and bones have the ability to take away material where it is not needed. With this knowledge the International Development Centre Adam Opel GmbH, a part of General Motors Engineering Europe, created a dynamic digital tool to copy these ways of construction used for optimizing car parts. In a way it quite precisely copies the way evolution constructs. We didn’t use it to create the next world’s most perfect chair, but as a high tech sculpting tool to create elegant shapes with a sort of legitimacy.” 
By: Hazem Raad
