When the Eiffel Tower was erected, a group of influential Parisians, including Dumas, issued a joint letter of complaint, explaining that the structure "stretch[es] out like a black blot the odious shadow of the odious column built up of riveted iron plates." In other words, they didn't like Eiffel's contribution to the city of lights. More recently, it was in the news after a Parisian architecture firm claimed it would redesign the public spaces in time for the Eiffel Tower's 120th anniversary. Even though reputable sources printed the story, it was later discovered to be a hoax, which shows the fascination the world still holds for the black blot.

Grid Chair. Designed by Jaebeom Jeong of Jeabeom Jeong Design Lab.

It was and remains a world-famous icon, thanks in great part to its visible frame. South Korean designer Jaebeom Jeong of Jaebeom Jeong Design Lab is perhaps channeling Eiffel's spirit: his new Grid Chair emphasizes its structure at every turn. Displayed in December at Seoul's "Creature 2008" art and furniture exhibition, the Grid Chair is a stainless steel grid formed into a chair shape, topped with a walnut, black-stained seat. Jeong describes the Grid Chair as "nothing more than functionally having the minimum structure to sit"-a statement with a poetry all its own.

The effect is one of simultaneous familiarity and strangeness, since the Grid Chair retains the outline of what we associate as a chair while its transparency denies its very purpose-to be a solid object capable of holding weight. Do not imagine that the Grid Chair does not work, because it does its job despite any fear that it will fail to do so. And Jeong recognizes the Grid Chair's unsettling effect well, as he is attempting to redefine the very idea of a chair, of chairness. Quite rightly (and Platonic I might add), Jeong states, "The structure of chairs we have known is a creature experienced by association effects." His Grid Chair challenges our expectations of a chair and strips chairness to its very essence. For questioning the principles of design, Jeong deserves credit-that from that questioning emerged such a lovely, spidery chair is a testament to Jeong's defiance.