Nicolas Thomkins and the Yin Yang

There are certain things, certain moments in life that click, that fit together just perfectly. Such is the Yin Yang, Dedon’s signature piece for 2007, launched with much fanfare last month at the Pavillion Gabrielle on the Champs Elysee in Paris.

Over sushi at an Indian beach party held indoors because of a rainstorm–such are the paradoxes of life–designer Nicolas Thomkins shares the story of the chair-pair that is as much sculpture as furniture, as much a sensual experience as a place to rest one’s weary butt.

The first sketch was drawn on the sand at Olango island, off Cebu, for a new "spa and chill-out furniture piece" for the company’s new collection. Thomkins, a sculptor trained in industrial design, drew "a closed cycle, an oval that not only flatters the eye but also the body". He insists that it was a design that was born complete: "Everything was clear to me; I only had to finish it."

Turning the design into an actual piece of furniture was a bit more complicated, but, as the 53-year-old Swiss designer says, "in a strangely pleasant way, everything in this process seemed to fall into place by itself." He had built models, shaping first stone then rigid foam, on which he sat jointed dolls. The convex form of the chair found its solution via an American boat-builder in Cebu, who supplied a fiberglass mold. The skill of Cebu’s weavers solved the complex weave pattern in the time it took Thomkins to take a break in the cafeteria.

Following Dedon’s philosophy, a chair is never just a chair, but a spiritual encounter. Says Thomkins: "The seat shells for two people, who cuddle into the form... it was clear from the beginning that two people would face each other with their left side, the hearts towards each other."

Each chair uses four kilometers of Hularo fiber and takes two weeks to weave, plus two more weeks for other production and finishing processes. The Yin Yang reportedly sells for 8,000 euros–they would not confirm the figure–and orders placed within the month after the launch will already keep the factories busy all next year.

Thomkins’ earlier design for Dedon is the popular 17-piece Bonneville collection, more angular, elegant and fresh. He is currently designing a floating seafood restaurant on Olango, made entirely of bamboo and coir fiber, in the shape of a giant scorpion asleep in the middle of the sea. He lives with his family in Lüneburg, Germany but spends quite a bit of time in Cebu, where he has a boat. Thomkins is rumored to be an excellent cook, and designs his own kitchen tools. His most valuable possession? "A sharp pencil and a piece of paper." – DGYu