Alexander Lervik

Press / 2013

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Insight -

The art of

Alexander Lervik celebrates 15 years as a designer by letting 15 photographers freely photograph his 15 chairs.

TEXT AND PORTRAIT PHOTO: JAN ALMLÖF

Has the image become more important than the product?

Out of this self-formulated question arose the idea of giving a number of renowned photographers free rein to photograph the fifteen chairs Alexander Lervik has designed since his graduation from Beckmans design program in 1998.

Alexander Lervik surrounded by his 15 chairs.

FOTO 12/2013

— This was not about product shots, but about making something imaginative and personal based on my chairs, says Alexander on the same day the exhibition of the mentioned photos was taken down in his studio on Söder in Stockholm.

It is also part of the matter that Alexander likes the conceptual. Letting both design and marketing become parts of the same puzzle. His graduation project consisted of ten stools inspired by other people's stools, which became an exhibition that was shown around the world for six years.

It took two years from when Alexander asked the first photographers until all fifteen had delivered their photos. The goal was to be able to show the photos in connection with him having been active for fifteen years.

The faster the photographers said yes, the more chairs there were to choose from.

— The deal was that they got to choose a chair and keep it as thanks for their work. And I got to keep the pictures, make an exhibition and a book.

Alexander describes himself as interested in photography, but "not knowledgeable." So Sune Nordgren—former museum director, art critic, and TV host—stepped in as mentor and dialogue partner.

Virtually all the invited photographers accepted the offer.

— But Frank Horvat, for example, declined with an amusing email where he liked the idea but didn't get what he was supposed to do with the chair since it looked so uncomfortable. Hans Hammarskiöld was also supposed to be in it, but he unfortunately passed away last year.

In the project, Swedish photographers are mixed with foreign greats, with the common denominator that they normally never photograph products.

The participants were Gerry Johansson, Gunnar Smoliansky, Helén Pe, Dawid, Elisabeth Toll, Julia Peirone, Annika von Hausswolff, Mats Bäcker, Bruno Ehrs, Andreas Ackerup, and Martin Parr, Vee Speers, Mary Ellen Mark, Lynn Goldsmith, Brendan Austin. As can be seen, photographic royalty and quite unexpected in the context.

Any surprises, anything that didn't go as planned?

— The biggest surprise was that they had such different expressions, most clearly in the photo of the light swing. The photographers really speak different languages.

Unexpected was also that the Norwegian hotel magnate Petter Stordalen bought both all the chairs and all the photos (from the photographers) to show in one of his hotels.

The photos have, as mentioned, been shown in Stockholm. In May they are to be shown in New York. It is also settled with Helsinki and the Nationalmuseum in Oslo.

Did you get an answer to your question, is the image more important than the product?

— Yes! If you are going to launch a product today, the image of the product is more important than the product itself. Then of course it is also important to show what, in this case, the chair really looks like. But that happens in another context.

PHOTO: MARY ELLEN MARK

PHOTO: GUNNAR SMOLIANSKY

PHOTO: ANDREAS ACKERUP

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PHOTO: DAWID

PHOTO: BRENDAN AUSTIN

PHOTO: VEE SPEERS

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PHOTO: JULIA PEIRONE PHOTO: MARTIN PARR

FOTO 12/2013

English translation of the original article. Text read from the scanned original; small transcription errors may occur.