Diego Granese’s Onda: a Subtle Curve for a Luxurious Lounge

														

bent, bent steel, chair, chaise, fabric, lounge, painted fabric, recycle, recycled, stainless steel, viscoelastic foam

Onda. Designed by Diego Granese.

The sounds of both “Onda” and “Diego Granese” have a certain soporific appeal that immediately puts them in the good graces of a writer attuned to such things. Place them in proximity to a gracefully-curved, sculptural lounger made of recycled steel and viscoelastic foam padding created by a Salerno architect, and I go positively giddy. In fact, Onda represents a fortuitous fusion of some of my favorite things (or intimations thereof): the mellifluous song of Romance languages, lounging in an Italian villa, and smart modern design.

Onda is distributed state-side by New York’s Resource Furniture, a company with a scenarist’s sense for what I like to call “J. Peterman Style.” To wit, “Environmentally-friendly recyclable steel. Lumbar area filling: special viscoelastic foam of 3 cm. Upholstery: covered with stretch plastic film, synthetic leather, leather, fabric or painted in different colors, with a plate of techno gel.” One almost expects a Peterman-esque rejoinder to follow, along the lines of “languorous lounging abounds, whether wrapped in a crystalline expanse of Mediterranean blue, or imbued with the glassy light of your very own urban jungle.” Resource also calls attention to Onda’s artful style, a pared-down aesthetic that evokes not only Corbusier, but also the work of contemporary designers/artists like William Emmerson, Roderick Vos, and Konstantin Grcic, mostly in regards to their affinities for cantilevered designs.

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The comparison(s) certainly works, but for me Onda is a better bedfellow of those whose precise manipulations take a single sheet of material and turn it into a cunningly contoured art piece, like the recently-featured Ran Amitai. Onda—which translates, for good reason, as “Wave”—is available finished with foam, leather, synthetic leather, or painted with a plate of “techno gel.” The essence of the piece, however—whether you prefer the upright “chair” or the recliner-inclined “lounge”—is its shiny and flawless materiality. And for that I’d take mine straight-up, no chaser, thank you—with the beautiful and reflective sheen of unadulterated stainless steel.

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