On March 4th, a new body of work by Dutch designer Joris Laarman will be unveiled at Friedman Benda. Laarman’s unique aesthetic merges cutting-edge technology and the life-sciences to create work of unexpected beauty. In 2008, Laarman’s Bone Chair and Bone Chaise, his first two works since graduating from Eindhoven, were displayed in MoMA’s exhibition Design and the Elastic Mind. This marked a major milestone in his career and the chair subsequently was added to the museum’s permanent collection. The show will be on view from March 4 through April 10, at Friedman Benda, 515 West 26th Street.

In 2006, Laarman’s Bone Chair revolutionized the design process by using an algorithm to translate the complexity, proportion and functionality of human bone and tree growth into a chair form. The algorithm, originally used by the German car industry, enabled him to reduce and strengthen his designs by optimizing material allocation, weight and stability, while minimizing material input. In his own words, he sculpted “using mother nature’s underlying codes.”

The upcoming exhibition is the culmination of five years of trial and error, exploratory material research and his continuous quest to translate science into functional objects of beauty, now on a monumental scale. His new body of work expands on his core investigations; it includes Skyline Storage, Fractal Bookshelf, Stair Cabinet, Leaf Table and Half Life Lamp, a sustainable lamp made from living cells.