Jonathan Olivares (born 1981)[1] is an American industrial designer and author.[2] Olivares's approach to design has been characterized research-based and incremental.[3] In April 2022 he became Senior Vice-President of Design at the
Knoll furniture company.[4][5]
Olivares' early furniture designs are explorations in various forms of metal. In 2007 Olivares designed Smith, a multi-purpose cart made of sheet metal,[14] made by
Danese Milano.[15] Versatility, simplicity, and the use of a single, recyclable material deliver an environmentally friendly product.[16] The design is the result of balanced functions; a container, a side-table or seat surface, handles, wheels, and a geometry that allows stacking.[17] Writer and curator Su Wu states: "[Smith] has capacity instead of categories, in which a table could also be a seat, perhaps, if you chose to sit on it."[18] Olivares 2012 Aluminum Chair for
Knoll[19] is a technically advanced chair made of
die cast and extruded aluminum.[20] The chair's seat shell is 3mm thick and has a shape that softens its metallic nature.”[20] and its contoured shape is slim and comfortable.[21] The Aluminum Bench, made by
Zahner in 2015, is made from architectural aluminum
extrusions,[22] that are normally used to support curved metal building facades.[23] The extrusions provide the main structure, joining the seat plate and cast legs, and are rolled formed to any curvature.[24] In 2017 the Aluminum Bench was included in the Super Benches installation outside of
Stockholm, curated by Felix Burrichter of
Pin-Up Magazine.[25]
Olivares has worked on commercial and corporate interiors, for
Vitra,
Dropbox, and in 2019 he designed a retail store for the
Mallorcan shoe brand
Camper at
Rockefeller Center in
Manhattan.[26][27] The store furniture is milled from
Indiana limestone, a nod to the building's iconic facade made of the same material,[28] and the stock is housed in openly in sliding storage racks.[29]
In 2016 Olivares turned his attention to textiles.[30]Twill Weave Daybed, commissioned from Olivares by the
Harvard Graduate School of Design for 9 Ash Street, was realized in 2017 with the support of
Kvadrat.[31] The daybed is composed of
twill weave textiles,[30] with its legs and cross beams made of woven
carbon fiber, molded on mast-making mandrels, and its
wool cushion dyed the color of graphite.[11][6] The daybed is strong enough to support the weight of a car.[6] This combination of materials results in a design that is simultaneously visually homogenous and celebrates the different materials used to make it.[11] In 2022
Kvadrat's New York flagship showroom, designed by Olivares, opened. Based on the square unit of a woven textile, the showroom is square in plan with a catwalk that allows bolts of textiles to be hung from it.[32] Square Chair, produced by the Italian manufacturer Moroso, was designed for the showroom and extends the spatial concept down to the scale of furniture.[33] The chair is made of two square foam blocks, upholstered with textile, that allow the user to sit forwards, sideways, and backwards.[34] With each block being upholstered in a different textile, the chair is a vehicle for larger compositions of color in space.[34]
Reception
Interior Design magazine describes Olivares work in a 2018 article as “spare and formally rigorous, often concerned with high-tech manufacturing processes.”[35] The art and cultural critic Drew Zeiba describes Olivares works as carrying a “signature elegance and simplicity.”[36] Writing in the
International Herald Tribune about Olivares' book A
Taxonomy of
Office Chairs in 2011, Design critic
Alice Rawsthorn writes: "You'll never look at an office chair in quite the same way again."[37]