#koonsian

Inspiration from artistic directors and designers looking to emulate the styles of the future; the unknown. 

Koonsian chairs, in 2001: A Space Odyssey, 1968

It’s always intriguing to watch a futuristic film that was set in a year we’ve now surpassed. We look back and think, “Is that what they really thought we’d have by now?” 2001: A Space Odyssey’s idea was that the future is in Outer Space. The 1960s were a time when space exploration really took off, pun intended, and if it had continued at this same rate, this film could have very well been a spot-on depiction of 2001. Their idea of the future of furniture and interior design was clean, simple, yet playful and almost always void of sharp edges. It’s not hard to wonder why right angles and edges wouldn’t be suitable for a space station. 

A Clockwork Orange, 1971.

Directed by Stanley Kubrick, the same as ‘A Space Odyssey,’ there was no determined year that this story took place. They emulated furniture designs of the 1970s as well as fine art and performance pieces of the time. The goal here seemed much more focussed on oddity than estimated accuracy. An attempt to make an unknown future as bizarre as one could imagine, adding the female form coffee tables as shock factors. 

Mars Attacks Ball Chairs, 1996

Supposedly taking place in the 1990′s, the film takes on a lot of modern design inspiration from the 50s and 60s. It’s noticeable in the US army uniforms, tanks, and other military equipment throughout the film, but also within the furniture. For example the famous Ball Chair, similar to those in the photo above, was designed by Finnish furniture designer Eero Aarnio in 1963.

Bedroom set in Black Mirror: Fifteen Million Merits, 2011.

Black Mirror, a popular Netflix TV Show, is our modern day version of the Twilight Zone. Each episode is different from the last but is always depicted in the future. With the dates not specified, plenty is left to the imagination. Often dealing with themes of dystopian societies, the episode Fifteen Million Merits gave us the world’s most annoying bedroom. Covered in LED screens and void of real windows or natural light, the bedroom feels like what would happen if someone became physically stuck within YouTube. The alarm clock is an AI that turns the screen to animated rooster calls. The characters are forced to interact with the AI making the room feel much like a futuristic jail cell. The heavily technology based designs in this show draw their inspiration from our modern day gone terribly wrong. 

Men In Black 3 headquarters, 2012

Not unlike the other films in this list, the Men In Black series takes much of their modern design inspiration from the late 1950s early 60s. In the photo above, the chair to the very left is a replica of the Egg chair, designed by Arne Jacobsen in 1958. While most everything in this particular Headquarters set has been replaced with a seamless white plastic or fiberglass material, the designs depicted are familiar. This movie takes on the challenge of highly futuristic designs set in the modern day, but right underneath our noses.