SONAR

SONAR is a minimalist modular object designed by Vienna-based studio form & eisen. This is furniture that refuses category. SONAR exists in the liminal space between sideboard and sculpture, between utility and art object. Its creator has fashioned what might be understood as a “sculptural construction kit,” yet this description barely captures the work’s deeper ambitions. The piece consists of two primary elements: an open cube with contrasting finishes – matte brushed exterior yielding to hand-finished interior – and a closed body that asserts modularity without surrendering to minimalist orthodoxy.

The design echoes the modular experiments of the 1960s, when designers like Joe Colombo and Ken Isaacs explored systematic approaches to furniture as adaptable components. Yet SONAR diverges from that era’s embrace of industrial methods. Instead, it channels the material honesty of postwar craft revival, where makers like George Nakashima celebrated the dialogue between hand and material. The visible craftsmanship – those deliberately exposed welds, the careful attention to surface transitions – connects to a lineage of makers who understood that perfection lies not in hiding process, but in revealing it.

Stainless steel, typically associated with industrial precision, here becomes a vehicle for artisanal expression. The brushed finish catches and holds light differently across its surface, creating a dynamic relationship with its environment. This material choice positions SONAR within contemporary design’s ongoing negotiation between industrial capability and craft sensibility – a tension that defines much of today’s most compelling furniture.

The modular system invites users to become co-creators, assembling configurations that respond to changing needs and spaces. This participatory aspect reflects broader cultural shifts toward customization and individual expression, while the underlying geometric discipline provides coherence across infinite variations. SONAR’s “rhythmic composition” suggests musical analogies – themes and variations that maintain harmonic relationships while allowing for improvisation.

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