Nali

Nali began as an experiment, which arose in response to an 'ah-hah erlebnis' at a local restaurant. The Restaurant's interior was intended to be bold, stylish, and suggestive of something greater. But the design wore the restaurant, so to speak, and the patrons disappeared into the excesses of their environment. Streng wondered if it was possible to maintain the same provocative, stylized feel of the decor without losing sight of how traces of the human element should weigh into the dining experience. With Nali, Streng entered into an investigation to explore the potential of modular seating options, whose aim it was to ascertain the equilibrium at which a material social configuration that adapts to patrons at the same time maximally expresses its own vitality.

When plugged into a receiver in the floor, the sculptural seat looks more like a popsicle, a joystick, or a massive thumb tack. The vision behind Nali is a daring one; pieces that demand so much individual attention have a great potential to cause visual clutter when comprising the look of an entire space. However, modular configuration allows Nali to embody the mechanized orchard aesthetic; meaning that the rows and groupings of Nali pieces, appear to grow organically up and out of the floor. This look subdues the massive quantity of man-made shapes, and plastic colors, displaying these as integral to and integrated into the function of an attitudinal environment. Nali and its completed suite of stools, chairs and tables look as permanent as they are changeable, and are readily re-grouped in one space according to season or social occasion; yet never look arbitrary or temporary, because Nali's configuration is determined by the active user.