The Concrete Things Chair brings together many beloved things: besides the material, it involves two of 3rings’ favorite companies, Komplot Design and Nola. But let’s start with the concrete as the material, by some accounts, is the most oft used in the building industry today. Part of its popularity stems from what I would call childhood impressions. Concrete-and its most entrancing partner, the concrete mixer truck-has etched a place in the juvenile brain.

Concrete Things Chair. Designed by Komplot for Nola.

Kids love the in-transit mixers, with their hypnotizing rotation, as much as they love concrete’s transformative quality. It’s almost magic-the way something soft and grainy hardens into impenetrable surface. And the best part of concrete’s metamorphosis is the liminal stage, wherein one can still stomp a foot or place a hand or write a name that will then be fixed for all eternity. So there’s that. Should you be a fan of the material, then check out the fabulous and minimalistic Cementum Fireplate. Now, moving past the wondrous aspect of Concrete Things’ material, it should be noted that Concrete Things is designed by Danish partnership Komplot and manufactured by Swedish company Nola-both of whom are cherished at 3rings. The team behind Komplot gave us the Grid Chair and the Non Chair, the first of which emphasizes form and the second material.

Concrete Things Grid Chair. Designed by Komplot for Nola.

In Concrete Things, Komplot marries the two, simultaneously accentuating the chair’s underlying mold and its overt treatment. One should mind the structure beneath Concrete Things, as its beauty has much in common with the Grid Chair. This is no secret. Nola explains: “The molded concrete shape of this striking chair may appear to be massive, but its sculptural form was actually inspired by the weightless lines of the Grid chair. Like different sides of the same coin, the two chairs are literally the skin and bones of a single design.” It is lovely to display the two together-like a film negative and its consequent photograph, or an X-ray and its corresponding body. Speaking of Nola, the firm also manufactures Frame, a planter that also highlights shape, though instead of the concavity of Concrete Things, Frame focuses on the square.

Recently exhibited at the 2009 Stockholm Furniture Fair, Concrete Things is a symptom of the city and of metropolitan architecture in general. Komplot likens the chair to a “pavement inspired grid, which deformation keeps memory of somebody once seated in them.” This statement-somewhat artful in its awkward translation-brings this post full circle. The absolute allure of Concrete Things and concrete is that process of transfiguration. What is visible is not only what confronts the eye, but also what lies beneath this vision-the underlying form of Concrete Things is akin to the concrete’s original malleability. We love what we see and what we can’t see, like a well-performed rabbit trick. Perhaps the enchantment of concrete is ultimately intangible.

via Designboom