cabinet

While the Chartres cabinet does not directly reference Sottsass’s Yellow Furniture, Job Smeets acknowledges the formal similarity between the works as well as the impact Sottsass has had on Studio Job. Sottsass’s work forged a path for designers to explore the expressive and symbolic potential of forms, freed from the "form follows function" ethos of modernism. Chartres and other pieces from the Landmarks series literally turn architectural icons on their side, posing questions about traditional hierarchical values between architecture and decorative arts. For his thesis project at the Design Academy Eindhoven, Smeets created a ten-meter-long cabinet that merges the cabinetry work of the Dutch modernist master Gerrit Rietveld with that of Sottsass. Smeets has noted that when he studied at Eindhoven, the curriculum celebrated Rietveld but omitted Sottsass.