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L'Uomo Vogue Profiles Jonathan Olivares in April Design Issue

Knoll in the News

L'Uomo Vogue, the Italian Men's imprint of the leading fashion magazine, profiles Jonathan Olivares in the April 2016 issue, whose focus is design. Olivares is photographed in an outdoor setting seated on a white Olivares Aluminum Chair, which he designed for Knoll in 2012. The designer is accompanied by a stack of Olivares Aluminum Chairs. 

Olivares designed the outdoor chair to be just right: not too heavy, not too light, more comfortable than anything else, and with style that could translate to indoor use. The chair is the product of an extensive research phase into the taxonomy of outdoor chairs—unsurprising, perhaps, for a designer who authored The Taxonomy of Office Chairs, a headfirst dive into the evolution, aesthetic and functionality of the chairs where we use to work. Olivares worked closely with the Knoll design team on the chair's proportion and profile, comparing it to the Bertoia Side Chair. 

At its thinnest, the Olivares Aluminum Chair is three millimeters thick, and at its widest, nearly three times that. The dimensional relationship keeps the edges from being too sharp, but also allows the aluminum to do its material job: stay cool. Olivares designed the center of the chair to be thin enough so that the material could adapt quickly to a sitter's body temperature.