Designers

50 Years of WL: #33 The Design Genius of Omer Arbel

Arbel said let there be lights—but before that, was a chair.

By Western Living /

Like most of the design industry, we've been fans of Omer Arbel's process-driven work for a very long time. We featured his 2.4 chair€”designed two years before his 14.0 Bocci lights became the new modernist standard for pendant lighting, materializing anywhere a space needed a hit of glassy drama€”back in 2003. 

Credit: Shannon Loewen

The 2.4 chair speaks to Arbel's architectural background (he was an intern architect at Busby and Associates at the time, and helped design the new Inform Interiors store): tension forces are transferred through the stainless-steel skeleton; compression forces are transferred through the cast-resin shape. It was a limited edition run of six chairs, each cast sequentially in layers on their side. 

Credit: Farhim Kassam

It was the chair that got him into Elle Decor and Dwell€”and WL, of course. The following month, he shared in a letter to the editor: €œI€™ve wanted to be in Western Living since I was a kid!€

To read about more great people, designs, homes and innovations that shaped Western Living, click here.

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The editorial team at Western Living loves nothing more than a perfectly designed space, place or thing: and we’re here to tell you about it. Email us your pitches at [email protected].