Visiona 100, Henri Vanhaerents’ debut collection is a contemporary manifesto that embodies his vision as a designer. His work is heavily inspired by the sixties - the Space Age Design- that embraced the fusion of popular culture, art and design and by doing so, unlocking infinite possibilities.
Vanhaerents follows a future-already-in-the-making narrative as he continues to break with traditional frameworks and archetypes of specific designs. Visiona 100 is a dual construction that consists out of a six-meter long centipede shaped modular seating element and a tripod lamp.
Their ambiguity aims to promote alternative ways of storytelling in connection to home furnishings. Vanhaerents' centipede breaks with the idea of the conventional lounge sofa by exploring its form flexibility.
It easily adapts to any given environment, transforming it into a nearly anthropomorphic seating element that is consequently in dialogue with the lamp. The centipede pillow is constructed with 23 pieces connected by zippers.
The head and tail reference the anatomy of a real-life centipede. The fabric choice echos the exoskeleton of insects often referred to as their "shell". The detachable upper pillows, held up by 3D-printed buttons, come in a silver and purple lurex-infused denim with varying degrees of reflectiveness adding even more dynamism to the piece.
The lamp is two meters high and is comprised out of three legs, flirting with the boundaries between utility and sculpture. The viewer is able to walk and sit underneath it due to its monumental character, which also implies that the lamp can take on a more prominent place inside the living space.
An app or a controller controls the two RGB lightbulbs inside the lamp. The centipede started out as an obsession which Vanhaerents soon became an evangelist of. It grew out to be a personal totem symbol - an attribute of choice - representing endless growth, good fortune, calmness, courage, protection and, inner strength.
All qualities typically associated with the comfort of a living space. The iconographical theme of the centipede is not frequently mentioned in Western canon but Vanhaerents incorporates it seamlessly into a metamorphosed living space.
