ADvsCOPY wins BEST IN SHOW for Herman Miller’s 2021 Modern Classic Exhibition

We’re thrilled to announced that our submission to Herman Miller’s annual Modern Classic Exhibition was awarded Best in Show!

Set Free evokes classical sculptures hewn from monolithic blocks of stone. For many people today, the Eames Molded Plastic Chair is truly a modern classic, as powerful and recognizable an object as Michelangelo's David – and, like that famous work, often reproduced and imitated. Inspired by a quote often attributed to Michelangelo, "I saw the angel in the marble and set it free," Set Free inverts the chair's original casting process to "recast" the mass-produced object as a singular work of art revealed by carving away the superfluous stone.

We came up with the idea a day or two before the deadline for submissions. Jessica made the sketch and I wrote the text. A couple weeks later, our entry was selected for the exhibition and we were suddenly faced with the task of making this thing real.

Make a box. Mix some plaster. Pour it into the box. Seems simple enough, right?

Well, yes and no.

It’s been a while since either of us had worked with plaster and we dramatically underestimated how much we would need. Which meant that we dramatically underestimated the weight of the final piece. Despite stuffing every nook and cranny with foam, it was almost completely immovable.

But once we sawed, chipped, and chiseled away the plaster to create the rocky effect, the load was light enough to carry. Barely.

With the help of some friends from our friendly neighborhood hardware store, we were able to get it out of the basement and onto the Cherry Street Pier, where it remained on display throughout the 2021 Design Philly event.

What did we learn through this process? Sometimes the simplest ideas are the hardest to execute. But a simple idea is usually a clear idea. And a clear idea is powerful. Just look at ruins.