Vladimir Kagan is an icon. If you don't recognize his name, you're most certainly familiar with his body of work and his undeniable influence in private homes, hip boutiques and museums worldwide.
He counts well known luminaries such as Tom Ford, Director David Lynch, Marilyn Monroe, Donna Karan and Andy Warhol as clients. In spite of this, Kagan has jokingly referred to himself as "the best kept secret" of the design industry for decades.
Kagan's career has spanned 60 years, during which he has clearly influenced a new generation of furniture and product designers. His avant-garde approach to design produces pieces that are fresh and sculptural while still retaining visible classical influence. The 'Kaganesque' aesthetic is decidedly modern and timeless at once. The perfect blend of form and function.
While best known as a legendary mid-century furniture designer, Kagan isn't resting on his laurels. In addition to an impressive architectural project in the works, he may well be undertaking a project with Ian Schrager (who single handedly reinvented the hotel experience) in coming months. One can only imagine what these two influential powers might create together.
Inspired by the answers to an interview in NY Spaces Magazine, I had the rare privilege of interviewing Vladimir Kagan this week. Below are excerpts of our conversation:
Franki Durbin: You are one of the most legendary furniture designers of our generation. What turned you on to the challenge of designing the SoHo apartment building, and can you tell us more about the design?
"In preliminary conversations with my client, they inspired me to design a building that would be "a flower amongst the weeds."
That clinched it for me. The site was small, but it was a corner lot which gave me great latitude to visualize the building from the diagonal.
The inspiration for the design came as an antidote to the plain vanilla glass boxes that were mushrooming all over the city. (That perception has since changed since Frank Ghery building for Barry Diller and the Gwathmey Building on Astor Place. ...However, those buildings were built after my design presentations to my client.)
The fluidity of my lines are inspired by nature, the fluid lines of a hilly landscape, the growth of a tree, the colors of flowers and that master of motion: Gaudi, whose aesthetic has always been an inspiration to me."
FD: The leap from product design to architectural design certainly offers vastly different challenges. How has your sculptural approach to furniture design been translated for architectural design?
I think that my sculptural forms translate inspiringly to architecture. It is approaching a challenge from a different point of view.
I have designed a building who's interiors reflect the fluidity of my sculptured furniture designs.
FD: The task of designing a 10-story apartment building has undoubtedly affected your design aesthetic and/or approach to product design. What lessons from the SoHo building project will you be apply to apply to future furniture designs?
My furniture designs are now bolder, more imaginative, more radical. I am reinterpreting my perception of "form follows function" and enjoying a refreshing disregard for conventional thinking.
FD: So we haven't lost you completely to architectural design?
"No, I'm afraid I'm stuck with furniture! (laughs)
It's where my reputation lies. I'm doing some very exciting individual pieces for clients. It's like concept cars, I do these projects for my private clients and then show them to my commercial clients who say "Oh, that's not so bad." But if I'd showed it to them first they would die. I am trying to push the boundaries a bit. To open them up to more adventurous design in the future. That's what I'm hoping comes of it."
FD: What other surprises can we expect from you in the future?
"I hope more buildings! I had submitted a dozen other proposals to my clients. Each one was considerably different from the other. My client's comments were: "I wish that I had more building sites to build them all!
I am working with Ian Schrager on some project now so maybe something will come out of it. I've met their design director who loves the things I am doing. So I think it's the opening of the "sesame" door, so to speak."
Just think, in ten years time the style-conscious among us could be living in Kagan apartments populated by authentic Kagan furnishings - as well as vacationing in Kagan-influenced boutique hotels. I can think of few situations so impossibly chic.
** Much thanks to my friends at American Leather for putting me in contact with Mr Kagan. Learn more about Vladimir Kagan's classic mid-century pieces as well as those designed exclusively for American Leather.
