12 April 2015

A chair with history on travel from Vienna to Milan

From 14 to 19 April, the li-lith chair by Austrian architect Gregor Eichinger will be part of the exhibition 'Austrian Design Pioneers' during Milan Design Week. Eichinger's li-lith chair for furniture manufacturer Braun Lockenhaus received recently the Red Dot Design Award 2015 which honors forward thinking products. But li-lith is a chair with history too.

Gregor Eichinger is one of the most important Viennese architects, especially when it comes to public socializing spaces like restaurants. With the li-lith chair design, Gregor Eichinger pays homage to another prominent architect: Ronald Rainer focused his work on urban design projects and was active in planning the city of Vienna. Ronald Rainer designed the chair for the Wiener Stadthalle which was built under his direction in the late 1950s. The Wiener Stadthalle (Vienna City Hall) is Austria's largest event hall where concerts such as this year's Eurovision Song Contest (19 to 23 May) happen. Eichinger's new interpretation of Rainer's 'City Hall Chair' is already in use - in other colors, at the new restaurant Lugeck in Vienna. For the architecture of the restaurant, Gregor Eichinger combined again history and future with focus on Viennese gastronomy which is in constant change nourished by the experience of tradition with contemporary taste. Gregor Eichinger's Viennese tavern appears in light colors and slender forms.

fig. from left, clockwise: Architect Gregor Eichinger's chair li-lith – homage à Roland Rainer; eichinger offices for furniture producer Braun Lockenhaus. Views at li-lith chairs in mint green and at the bar with metallic-ocean-green enamel tiles at the restaurant 'Lugeck' (architects eichinger offices) by the gastronomy family Figlmüller which is known for contemporary Viennese cuisine. Lugeck is dedicated to Viennese tavern culture. Photos: (C) Eva Kees (evakees.com).

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