08/05/09 - John A. Harris revealed his new conceptual furniture collection entitled ‘Cellular’.
In 1665 Robert Hooke published Micrographia within which he coined the term “cell” to describe the basic unit of life. He compared the cork cells he saw through his microscope to the small rooms lived in by monks.

For the Milan design Fair 2009, John Alfredo Harris (born 1964, lives and works between Paris and London) has created a collection that explores this observation. Taking the elements that make up a cell i.e. the nucleus, mitochondrion and chloroplast as inspiration for the form and function of the collection crafted from reclaimed timber and timber that comes from wellmanaged forests.

Harris’s work is at once technical and ethical, resulting from the long quest for an asceticism that is elegant, subtle and richly expressive. “The furniture made by Harris belongs to that multifarious cohort of objects now coming to the fore on the art scene.

These are objects that subvert the established categories, which cannot be placed in the category of functionalist design or decorative arts. Visually remarkable and immaculately crafted, the merit of these objects is that they tell us about their maker.” Patrick Favardin

Merging the classic traditions of cabinet making with a freedom of visual expression, Harris incorporates shapes and characteristics of the nuclear envelope, encouraging the contours and lines that nature gives, evealing the primordial character of grain and texture. Harris creates designs that are at once functional, visually stimulating and truly cellular.

John Alfredo Harris
WORKSHOP STONARD FARM
HIGHWYCH SAWBRIDGEWORT
HERTFORDSHIRE CM21 OLB
M. Paris +33 (0) 673617934
M. London +44 (0) 7950705074
www.jaharris.co.uk
b_ancillon@hotmail.com