Olivares Aluminum Chair Included in Art Institute of Chicago Permanent Collection

In December 2016, the Art Institute of Chicago added the Olivares Aluminum Chair, designed by Jonathan Olivares for Knoll, to its permanent collection. Joining a robust collection of artwork and objects in the Institute’s Architecture and Design department, the Olivares Chair represents the Knoll penchant for technological and material experimentation.

In 2012, the Art Institute of Chicago hosted an exhibition by Jonathan Olivares Design Research, the furniture designer's Los Angeles-based practice. Entitled “The Outdoor Office,” the exhibit was comprised of a series of speculative designs that explored the possibility of office spaces located outdoors. Olivares’ hypothetical renderings placed his own aluminum chair into utopian work environments, its characteristic profile lending a necessary softness to offices en plein air.

Now, the chair itself joins the museum’s collection, its structure standing as testament to the subtle yet expansive possibilities of furniture innovation. Cast entirely in one piece of aluminum and measuring three millimeters thick at its thinnest point, the chair resolutely defies convention. "Can you surprise yourself with learning something new," he asked during the design process, "or something that can be measured to be more successful? Through experimentation you can push materials beyond their conventional limits."