The Skeleton Key

Making use of a digital tool developed by General Motors to replicate the way trees, bones, and other natural structures grow (adding material where it's needed, taking it away where it's unnecessary), young Dutch designer Joris Laarman conjured the surrealistic aluminum BONE CHAIR. "It's one of my favorite contemporary pieces,." says interior designer Amy Lau, whose playful room at this year's Kips Bay Decorator Show House garnered a lot of praise. "It's fascinating from both a technological and a design perspective. Laarman has used abrasive, cutting-edge technology to create a chair that looks like a natural organic form." Who knew an algorithm could lend mathematical legitimacy to something so sensually elegant?