Furniture designer Jason Miller:
“I try to design things that the designers I admire will like…but also things my mother would want to have in her home. I think this is possible.”
Miller’s furniture design plays on memories that our community may share: 70’s cars, Italian design, and sexy materials from the 80s. Raised in Darien, Connecticut, Jason’s suburban upbringing informs his elegant, historically rich work that has become his signature.
There are a couple of schools of thought around furniture and interiors. One is that it should be comfortable to the point of being nondescript, a soft canvas to place one’s life on to. This is perfectly valid and the road more commonly traveled. The second view says that architecture, interiors and the furniture that inhabit the space can have a powerful effect on how we feel, how we work, and, in Miller’s case, the memories it triggers.
There is something vaguely reminiscent of Eyes of Laura Mars about his work. This sofa could be in the office scenes from Blade Runner, or a visual from Roxy Music’s The Thrill of it All.
When I see this sofa, I want to sit on it, not just because I need a place to rest, but because it is pulling me into another time and place—seduction by sofa. It is design with an optimistic view of the future, which is why it appeals to us.
We come from a design epoch of the 60s, 70s and 80s—Paul Rudolf, NASA, The Corvette—design that said tomorrow will be even better than today.
This was an era of American design that had swagger and confidence. Think of the movies, the music and the energy of those times. Miller is not so much being retro, as he is tricking our memories with feelings from the past. It’s a feeling we like.
You can find Jason’s work at DeLaEspada, makers of fine modern furniture.
