Architects are Looking for Work

Los Angeles gallery Fifth Floor will be exhibiting new furniture work by local architects that are seeking alternative design practices during the economic slowdown.

Looking for Work
Ali Jeevanjee, Aimee Less, Earl Parson
June 20 - July 18, 2009
Opening reception: Saturday, June 20, 6-9pm

Fifth Floor
502 Chung King Court
Los Angeles, CA 90012

Fifth Floor presents Looking for Work, a show featuring furniture by a select group of designers from the architecture and spatial design fields. With the pace of construction slowing drastically many architectural designers have turned their attention to smaller objects to satisfy the impulse to design as well as cope with the economic downturn. Some have forged out completely on their own while others supplement their time in the spatial design field by creating these beautiful but useful objects.

Earl Parson’s chairs and functional objects are created from reclaimed remnants of large industrial steel beams which when assembled have a visual lightness that belies the heft of the chosen material. After more than a dozen years working in the L. A. architecture & design community, Parson launched Parson Studio Group in 2008. His previous experience included stints with noted design firms Marmol + Radziner, W3 Architects, Studio Works, Fung + Blatt Architects and Keating Khang Architecture.

Ali Jeevanjee’s laminated plywood furniture features rich striated surfaces that loop around themselves to create flowing orthogonal ribbons which follow a strict set of self-imposed geometric rules that make them useful for both seating and storage. Ali has a Bachelor of Architecture degree from Cornell University and a Master of Architecture degree from the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University. He has taught architecture at Cal Poly Pomona and at USC, and is also serving on the editorial team of the internationally recognized website Archinect.

Aimee Less’ seats playfully steal construction details from the clothing world to create an informal chair that is both visually appealing and attains an enjoyable balance of rigidity and softness. Aimee received her B.F.A. from Syracuse University and studied sculpture at Camberwell College of Arts and Crafts in London. After working as a fine artist and a web designer in New York, Tel Aviv and San Francisco, Aimee completed her Environmental Design degree at Art Center College of Design. She was recently awarded first place in the DWR M+D+F design competition.