NOT FOR AUTOMOTIVE USE is a debut furniture and apparel collection from Brooklyn-based art and design collective MSCHF. The group devised the project following a trip to Germany to tour the AMG headquarters. The nearly two dozen household items developed all incorporate AMG Mercedes parts. The loveseat is obvious with headlights integrated into the arms. Other pieces are more subtle such as the trash bin with accelerator and brake pedals to activate the lid. Seat belts are used in a few different ways, as a securing strap for the table, struts for the shelving units, webbing for a chair, and a working electrical connection for the floor lamp.
Incorporating car parts into furniture design isn’t a new idea. Take a look at the work of Enrico Marone Cinzano and Kostas Lambridis to see what they’ve created with Ferrari seats and a VW Beetle. Overall I think MSCHF’s collection is creative and cohesive, the floor lamps are probably my favorite. I do like that there’s elements of fun, the grille grill is spot on and would probably sell a bunch in the AMG lifestyle catalog beyond MSCHF’s limited run. I also appreciate that MSCHF chose NYCxDesign to debut it. These sorts of outside the norm furniture/interior design events don’t show up on the calendar that often.
Full Description
MSCHF x AMG
NOT FOR AUTOMOTIVE USE
MSCHF’s debut furniture collection, developed in collaboration with AMG Mercedes, repurposes individual AMG car parts as components of furniture design objects.
MSCHF’s practice involves liberally sampling from all sources, expanding the notion of the readymade to cultural phenomena. Here, the collective strips luxury vehicles for parts as their design process.
Technical parts are given new unorthodox purposes, in objects that evidence the sense of humor that led to their creation. Not for Automotive Use carries the torch for experimenting with form and materials, excerpting pieces from high performance machines and transforming them into everyday objects- a waste basket, a standing light, an ergonomic ch
The collection pays homage to Italy’s Radical Design counterculture movement of the 1960s, and MSCHF’s design process tips its hat to Achille Castiglioni (1918-2002), the Milanese designer who took proletarian repurposing to new new heights, integrating tractor and bicycle seating into his stools, screwdriver handles into table legs, and fishing rods into floor lamps
This showing marks the first time MSCHF’s studio has ever been opened to the public. Not For Automotive Use was born from the workshop, and is shown here in its natural environment.
Photos and Text: Dave Pinter
Additional Description: MSCHF
