Stalker Commode by Milincu Camil and Tudoran Otilia

Stalker Commode by Milincu Camil and Tudoran Otilia is a highly esteemed winner of the very prestigious 2022 A' Design Award de Bronze in Beaux-Arts Competition Category.

BronzeBeaux-Arts· 2022

Stalker Commode

by Milincu Camil and Tudoran Otilia

Client: Studio Minus

A' Design Award de Bronze Winner in Beaux-Arts Category

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The Design

About Stalker Commode

Stalker est une commode conçue pour être disposée librement au centre d'une pièce, afin de pouvoir être abordée de tous les côtés. La pièce est réalisée en hêtre, en frêne et en contreplaqué, avec des éléments en miroir, en acier galvanisé et en acier étamé. Onze tiroirs non identiques sont répartis de manière irrégulière sur les quatre faces et se dissimulent derrière une texture verticale sombre, tandis que des poignées en acier étamé signalent leur emplacement. Quatre miroirs prismatiques forment un réflecteur en coin qui renvoie le regard du spectateur depuis chaque point de vue. Stalker a été fabriquée à la main et se situe à la frontière entre l'art et le design de mobilier.

The Recognition

About the A' Design Award de Bronze

Stalker Commode est lauréat de l'A' Design Award de Bronze, une reconnaissance hautement prestigieuse décernée à des designs remarquables qui se distinguent par leur créativité, leur ingéniosité et leur sagacité. Les lauréats Bronze sont des artefacts amplement habiles et d'une créativité frappante, qui authentifient la vaste expérience, l'imagination et l'ingéniosité de leurs concepteurs. Stalker Commode est censé être un objet très estimé, admiré et chéri, remarquablement professionnel et innovant. Ce design lauréat de l'A' Design Award de Bronze intègre les meilleures pratiques de l'art, de la science, du design et de la technologie, et est excellent par son souci du détail. Stalker Commode satisfait admirablement les besoins, touche les désirs, charme les sentiments et attire la curiosité.

Behind the Design

Press Kit

Credits, team members and technical details provided by the designer.

Unique Properties: The stalker is that piece of furniture that one can't ignore.
He stares into one's soul, reflecting facets of the viewer's self. He is the alter ego with many secret drawers, hidden behind a vertical dark texture. Initially created as a mystery chest of drawers, the stalker also has four prismatic mirrors (corner reflectors) which reflect the viewer's eyes from every point one is standing. This piece of furniture creates a visual and philosophical dialogue with anyone who interacts with it.
Dimensions & Packaging: 400 mm X 400 mm X 1700 mm
Tags: stalker, reflection, mirror, hidden drawer, corner reflector
Production Technology: beechwood, ash wood, plywood, mirror, galvanized steel, tinned steel
Design Challenge: The most difficult challenge was designing, positioning and aligning the corner reflector within the chest of drawers followed by finding a way of making a symmetrical frame so that drawer fronts were possible to be placed on all sides. Great debate was generated along the final height of the piece, as it is meant to be a mirror image of an unknown person. Many finishing recipes were tested, and in order to make a proper evaluation, the samples had to be made with the same texture as the finished piece.
Research: The nominated piece of furniture is at the border between art and furniture design. We believe that such a present piece of furniture as a chest of drawers must have a very personal touch, being a mirror of our personalities and representing us.
The construction is made out of solid wood.
The wooden frame contains eleven non-identical drawers, which are unevenly distributed on all four sides of the piece of furniture.
All the drawers have different rights and fit in the whole depth of the structure. They are made using plywood, on which we applied a texture of wooden vertical wands which continue the general vertical pattern, subtly integrating the enclosures within the design. It is the tinned steel handles that indicate the position of the drawers.
The whole process was an experiment, as the project developed organically, the piece being built manually from the construction level to its last detail. There were also details that had to be changed along the way. The piece of furniture respects the three registers corresponding with the human body: head-body-legs. The legs were an experiment. Being made out of vertical welded steel they didn't support the wooden structure well. That is why they had to be bent.
We believe in the idea of makers, that by building manually a piece of furniture one can also create a piece of art. By working manually, the design decisions are more assumed at a detail level.
The general concept, the structure, and all the details including the finishings are also a controlled result of more tries.
The stalker remains a piece of furniture at the border between art and furniture design.
Inspiration: One of the things the Covid-19 Pandemic did to us was to make us reflect upon ourselves. The stalker is a vessel for our alter ego, constantly and obsessive looking back. As the mirror image must have a soul, Items, memory anchors of our past self are kept in its drawers, concealed behind a vertical dark texture. This piece of furniture creates a visual and philosophical dialogue with anyone who interacts with it.
The stalker represents our alter ego, and is inspired by a person who discovers the partner's secrets, relating to the other person almost as to himself, as a mirror image, however keeping mysterious drawers.
Project Duration: The project started in 2020 and was finished in 2021 in Timisoara, Romania
Operation Flow: The stalker is a piece of furniture that can be positioned in the center of a room, so he can be approached from any side.
Team Members: Milincu Octavian Camil
Tudoran Otilia Alexandra
Image Credits: Image 1-5: photographer: Diana Bilec, The Stalker, 2022.