Partial view of a Crosshatch Chair, focusing on the parachute cords that support the wood frame.
The three founders of design firm EOOS.

For Gernot Bohmann, Harald Gründl, and Martin Bergmann of EOOS, design is a poetic discipline. The three graduated from the University of Applied Arts in Vienna, Austria, and founded EOOS in Vienna in 1995. They have since been working in furniture, product, retail, and social, for clients including Giorgio Armani, Alessi, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, MatteoGrassi, and Zumtobel.

While their portfolio is varied, the designers approach each project from the same perspective, which they call “poetical analysis”. Explains Bohmann, “We find a word, a strong intuitive image, or a ritual, and the process starts. The idea lives its life, and we just have to follow. At the end everyone is surprised by the result.”

Surprise is a key element in Crosshatch, the chair EOOS designed for Geiger. With Crosshatch, EOOS used parachute cords to supply the seat and back support. “We have designed a wooden structure,” explains Bergmann, “with a floating basket made from parachute cords. The cords are pulled down, and the chair becomes a system of internal tension. Without them the chair would be unstable.”

“We call our design process ‘poetical analysis.’ ”

- Gernot Bohmann—EOOS

Use of a common material, such as parachute cord, reflects the practice of a designer who continues to influence Geiger: Ward Bennett. “His exploration of how far you can go within an existing typology and his use of industrial components in his work is very fascinating for us,” notes Bohmann. Surprise takes another turn in the experience of sitting in Crosshatch. An object that appears light and transparent, it actually delivers what EOOS describes as a “nest” feeling, a sense of being comfortably enveloped.

A playful twist on expectations is part of the EOOS ethos of working on “authentic objects.” According to Bergmann, “This means for us that we want to achieve a synthesis of construction and poetical expression. We are fascinated by how much emotional quality comes out of rationality.” 

Products by EOOS