Living Systems

Arper Brief No. 2 “Living Systems” premiered at the 2012 Salone de Mobile in Milan, and envisions Arper and its furniture as a living system composed of bases, shells, materials, and colors — a carefully assembled palette of raw materials — that when combined and placed in different contexts incites new ways of interacting with the environment. Photographic diagrams of Arper collections are juxtaposed with diverse images of living systems in nature, architecture, and urbanism thus proposing a new way of thinking about design, where objects become active members of larger wholes — homes, offices, and environments — to form living systems of their own. The Brief features photography by Scheltens and Abbenes and Iwan Baan as well interviews with designers Lievore Altherr Molina and James Irvine.