Love is the "Essence" of Life

Earlier this week, I blogged about a set of dining chairs we bought when we purchased our first house.  Designed by Alfredo Häberli, the curvilinear lines of the Segesta chair are clean and (to use an trite word in the design industry) sexy.  Häberli has a knack for designing functional yet beautiful objects as can be seen in his Essence collection of glassware for Iittala. 

Essence Collection designed by Alfredo Häberli (Iittala)

I love the way this stemware creates a stunning, balanced composition when set on a table.  Which, according to Häberli, is no accident.  Straight from the horse’s mouth, Häberli has this to say about the inspiration for this collection:

“My personal heritage was essential for this project. Knowing the gastronomic business well (restaurant & hotel in my family), my aim was to integrate this knowledge in a modern shape. Not losing the scientific functionality of a shape in relation to the liquid. The idea for the glass range was to create a balance between tradition and modernity, between celebration and daily use, a balance with one and different uses. In a way, I tried to find the essence in-between. The shape was a challenge for production. The most difficult detail was the stem going into the completely flat bottom plate. This detail with the trapeze shape of the bowl gives the unusual character of the glasses. The water glass is without a stem and can be used as a shot glass or table wine glass in a daily function. The carafe has a pinky colour inspired by having some wine drops in a glass that reflects in the whole body. Sometimes drops on a table line leave the same pinky colour.” 

Alfredo Häberli - Essence (2002)

L - Alfredo Häberli via Wogg, R - Essence Pitcher 100cl Sweet Pink - Alfredo Häberli via Iittala.

My favorite piece from this collection is the “pinky colour” carafe.  I’m lucky enough to have snagged one of these before they went out of production along with the tumblers, red wine and champagne glasses.

The Segesta Armchair

Back in 2006, when Josh and I were first-time homebuyers and didn’t have loads of money (not that we do now!) we still wanted to buy a few pieces of furniture that were at least a little cut above the rest.  We decided that dining chairs would bring us the biggest bang for our buck, so we went down to the Central West End to visit our buddies at Centro Modern Furnishings to see what would fit within our budget.

At the time, I wanted 6 matching dining chairs.  In the past few years, my taste has changed a bit, and I prefer the look of 4 matching chairs with either a bench or 2 complimentary chairs to accent the table.  Nevertheless, we wanted to find a chair that was unique, and not overused (think Eames, Stark, Bertoia).  Ultimately we decided on the SEGESTA ARMCHAIR designed by Alfredo Häberli. 

Segesta Chair by Alfredo Häberli via Alias.

Produced by Alias, an Italian furniture manufacturer, Segesta is a multipurpose chair made from a high-tech plastic (Hirek©) that can be used both indoors and out.  The back rest has a flexibility to it which catches most people off guard initially, but it’s a pleasant little surprise!   And one of my favorite things about this chair is its ability to stack.

Originally, I had paired these modern plastic chairs with a French style antique wood table (also white) but after our house fire in 2008, we bought new chairs for our dining room and stacked these chairs away in storage.  Although they held up pretty well to the devastation of the fire, all of the chairs sustained scratches in the plastic and are stained with soot that I’ve been unable to clean/buff out.  I have seen an upholstered version of the chair, so maybe we’ll be able to order the upholstered pieces and retrofit them to our chairs...?  Let's hope!  

L - Our dining room the day after the fire, R - Taormina Chair by Alfredo Häberli via Alias.