I’m doing what I thought I would never be doing: Emailing Jil Sander. There is of course a specific reason for the exchange. Sander, the legendary visionary of purist, minimalist fashion who disappeared from fashion and into the warm embrace of an anonymous life some years ago, leaving us her Uniqlo +J work as a parting gift, has agreed to discuss her collaboration with the furniture maker Thonet. It’s as absolutely intentional and deliberate as anything else she has ever done in her long career.
Just unveiled at Milan Design Week—the annual event that takes place alongside the Salone del Mobile furniture fair in the Italian city—JS.Thonet is the Hamburg-based designer’s reimagining of Thonet’s iconic tubular steel seating and side tables, originally designed by Marcel Breuer in the late 1920s. There are two iterations: Nordic, with blonde polished wood accents; and, Serious, with black lacquer. Both come with Viennese canework or leather upholstery.
Photo: Hartmut Nägele
Like so much of what Jil Sander has done, drawing a global group of acolytes (including me, truth be told) to her work, it reimagines the familiar, and renews it with a fresh and compelling sense of urgency. (Consider how she elevated the white cotton poplin shirt into the stratosphere while always keeping it grounded.) What follows is the conversation I had with Sander, no deductions, no additions: True to form, she kept everything direct, unvarnished, and straight to the point.
MH: How did this collaboration come about?
JS: I was approached by Thonet with the project of re-interpreting Marcel Breuer’s cantilever. I visited the Thonet manufactory in Frankenberg, Germany, and inspected the archives. The manual work process was as impressive as the thorough understanding of quality choices. So, I agreed with enthusiasm to the collaboration.
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