T THE NEW YORK TIMES STYLE MAGAZINE - NOVEMBER 10, 2016 - RICK OWENS’S MONUMENTAL - IF NOT ENTIRELY COZY - FURNITURE - BY ALEXANDER FURY

NOVEMBER 10 2016

PLENTY OF PEOPLE DON’T REALIZE THAT RICK OWENS CREATES FURNITURE, AS WELL AS FASHION, AND THAT HE’S DONE SO SINCE 2007. THAT’S PARTLY BECAUSE OWENS CONSCIOUSLY KEEPS THE PIECES OUT OF MOST OF HIS STORES; AND PARTLY BECAUSE, EVEN IN SITU, IT DOESN’T LOOK LIKE FURNITURE. INSTEAD, THEY RESEMBLE ANGULAR, FACETED ROCKS MADE OF MATERIALS AS DIVERSE AS CARRARA MARBLE OR PLYWOOD, MAYBE EMBEDDED WITH A MOOSE ANTLER. OWENS’S OWN BED — ONE OF AN EDITION OF THREE — IS A MONUMENTAL TOMBLIKE STRUCTURE OF ALABASTER SLABS WHICH, WHEN COMBINED WITH ITS MATCHING DAYBED, WEIGHS TWO TONS.

‘THE FURNITURE — BECAUSE IT WAS NEVER A NECESSITY FOR US — WAS SOMETHING THAT WE JUST DID FOR OURSELVES TO INDULGE OUR OWN AESTHETIC APPETITES AND OUR PERSONAL NEEDS,’ OWENS SAYS IN HIS SIGNATURE CALIFORNIA DRAWL, ON THE PHONE FROM HIS STUDIO IN PARIS. ‘WHEN I WAS FIRST STARTING THE FURNITURE, I WAS TALKING ABOUT MY MESSAGE OF INTENT: IT WAS SOMETHING LIKE, ‘A FUR ON A ROCK, NEXT TO A FIRE, IN A CAVE.’ AND I LITERALLY CREATED A ROCK, THE ROCK THAT I WANTED…’ HE LAUGHS.

OWENS SOMETIMES ATTEMPTS TO DUMB DOWN HIS OWN COMPLICATED IDEAS, BUT LATER, HE REELS OFF HIS AESTHETIC INFLUENCES. ‘THERE WAS ROBERT MALLET-STEVENS, THERE WAS BRUTALISM, THERE WAS MARCEL BREUER ARCHITECTURE AND THERE WERE GERMAN BUNKERS.’ THOSE ANTECEDENTS ARE ALL THERE, REWORKED INTO THE AESTHETICS OF THE CHUNKY, SLICED-UP BOULDERS HE CALLS CHAIRS AND TABLES, WHICH CHALLENGE THE IDEA OF A DESIGNER’S INTERIORS LINE AS RUN-OF-THE-MILL SOFT FURNITURE. (THERE ARE PILLOWS, OWENS EMPHASIZES, THAT MAKES ALL THAT ROCK CRYSTAL AND PETRIFIED WOOD SOMEWHAT MORE COMFORTABLE.)

NEXT MONTH, OWENS’S DESIGNS WILL GET THEIR DUE AT THE MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART, LOS ANGELES, WITH A SWEEPING SHOW THAT DISPLAYS BOTH PRE-EXISTING FURNITURE AS WELL AS NEWLY PRODUCED PIECES.

THERE’S NO FASHION INCLUDED, BARRING A VIDEO OF OWENS DRAPING A LOOK FROM HIS SPRING/SUMMER 2016 MEN’S WEAR SHOW ‘CYCLOPS.’ THERE ARE ALSO A SERIES OF CANVASES BY THE LATE AMERICAN CONTEMPORARY ARTIST STEVEN PARRINO, WHOSE PUNK-TINGED WORK — SLASHED, TWISTED, TORN, GENERALLY MISTREATED AND MOSTLY MONOCHROME — HAS A DIRECT AESTHETIC LINK TO OWENS’ AVANT-GARDE FASHION AND FURNITURE. ‘THE PIECES AT MOCA HAVE BECOME MORE SCULPTURAL AND LESS DEFINABLY FURNITURE THAN BEFORE,’ OWENS SAYS. ‘FOR A MUSEUM SHOW, IT’S KIND OF LIKE A RUNWAY SHOW. DO WE REALLY NEED TO SEE THE FUNCTIONAL STUFF ON A RUNWAY SHOW, OR DO WE NEED TO SEE THE STORY? DO WE NEED TO SEE DEDICATION AND EVOLUTION, AND ASPIRATION?’

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IN AN ACCOMPANYING BOOK, WHICH WILL BE PUBLISHED BY RIZZOLI IN FEBRUARY, OWENS EMPHASIZES THE CONTRIBUTIONS OF MICHÈLE LAMY — HIS WIFE AND CREATIVE PARTNER, WHOM HE AFFECTIONATELY CALLS 'HUN' — IN BOTH THE CONCEPTION AND CREATION OF THE FURNITURE. 'MICHÈLE HAS ALWAYS SAID IN INTERVIEWS THAT WE DIDN'T GET TOGETHER TO HAVE BABIES, AND THAT'S TRUE,' OWENS ALLOWS (WHEN THEY MARRIED IN 2006, HE WAS 45 AND LAMY WAS 62).

'BUT THIS IS KIND OF OUR BABY, BECAUSE THIS IS VERY MUCH A STORY OF A RELATIONSHIP. THIS IS MY AESTHETIC AND I PASS THE BALL TO HER, AND THEN SHE RESPONDS AND PASSES THE BALL BACK TO ME. THAT'S WHAT THE FURNITURE HAS BECOME.' LAMY WAS ABSENT FROM THE OWENS STUDIO WHEN WE SPOKE, HAVING TRAVELED TO NEW YORK FOR THE OPENING OF THE LABEL'S NINTH STAND-ALONE STORE AND THEN TO CALIFORNIA TO INSTALL THE MOCA SHOW. BUT HERS IS THE HAND THAT BRINGS THE FURNITURE TOGETHER, WORKING IN PARIS WITH ÉBÉNISTES, OR CRAFTSMEN, AND WITH OTHER SPECIALISTS FOR SPECIFIC MATERIALS. (THE ROCK CRYSTAL ELEMENTS, FOR INSTANCE, WERE CREATED IN PAKISTAN.)