Star Trek + Design

Objects, furnishings, and interior design from Star Trek

[startrekdesign]

Doris Vanity by R & Y Augousti 1991

R & Y Augousti is a luxury furniture manufacturer, known for maximalism and use of organic shapes. Their Doris vanity was used in the Deep Space Nine episode, “Crossover,” as set dressing for Mirror Universe Kira/The Intendant’s bathing suite.

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Inner Pyramid by Ray Howlett 1985

Ray Howlett is an American artist, known for his geometric sculptures in light and dichroic glass. Each sculpture is unique, which accounts for the differences between the Inner Pyramid used in Star Trek and the sculpture in the 4th image. Howlett’s sculpture was used in the second part of The Next Generation two-part episode, “Unification,” as set dressing for Romulan Proconsul Neral’s office. When this episode was originally released, the face of a boom operator in the production crew could be seen reflected in the sculpture. This was edited out when The Next Generation was remastered, but not before many fans had a good laugh about it. Special thanks to Ray Howlett for answering my questions about the piece and for providing the photograph in the 4th image.

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Meridiana Chair designed by Christophe Pillet for Driade 2004

Christophe Pillet is a contemporary French architect and industrial designer. His Meridiana Chair was used in Picard, as set dressing for Altan Inigo Soong’s android compound on Coppelius.

[startrekdesign]

Acrylic Glasses by Precisioncraft c. 1980’s - 1990’s

Precisioncraft was a Canadian plastics manufacturer. Their stemmed acrylic party glasses, produced in a variety of color combinations, were used in Quark’s Bar on Deep Space Nine. No longer in production, I couldn’t find images of all of the colorways, but here are two examples of the Precisioncraft wine glasses and champagne flutes which were used.

[startrekdesign]

Dining Chair by Arrben 1980

Arrben is an Italian furniture company, founded in 1969. They are known for their  leather and chrome chairs designs, which feature clean lines evocative of Early Modernism and the Bauhaus School. These chairs were used in Deep Space Nine, on Starbase 375, and in First Contact, Insurrection, and Nemesis, each time in the Enterprise-E’s Ready Room.

Special thanks to Tadeo D’Oria for sending me the First Contact production image and the screencap from Nemesis.

[startrekdesign]

Cyclos Sconce designed by Michele de Lucchi for Artemide c. 1980’s

Michele de Lucchi is an Italian industrial designer, best known for his involvement with the Memphis Group and Studio Alchimia. Perhaps his best known work is the First Chair, which was also used in TNG. His Cyclos sconce was used in The Next Generation episode, “Pen Pals,” as both lighting for the Enterprise-D’s geological lab, and as a specimen tray.

[startrekdesign]

Trolley Cart designed by Giovanni Pelis for Stile Neolt c. 1960’s

This is a correction of an earlier post, where I misattributed this object as a Boby Cart designed by Joe Colombo!

Giovanni Pelis was a mid century Italian industrial designer, whose trolley cart for Stile Neolt remains his best known work. It was used in The Final Frontier, on the bridge of the Enterprise-A.  It’s very similar to Joe Colombo’s Boby Cart, which was used in several different Star Trek series.

After my initial misattribution, I was corrected by a follower of the Star Trek + Design instagram account. They pointed out that the cart’s drawers in The Final Frontier open directly outward, while the drawers on Colombo’s Boby Cart fan out.

Source: Jaime Asua

[startrekdesign]

Bubble Chair designed by Christian Daninos 1968

Christian Daninos was a French industrial designer, whose Bubble Chair remains his best known work. It’s remarkably similar to Eero Aarnio’s Bubble Chair, produced the same year, albeit not hanging. It was used in the Enterprise episode, “The Aenar,” inside of the Aenar city.

I was initially unsure about this attribution, given how many lucite bubble chair variations had been produced since the 1960’s. I eventually found the specific chair used in Enterprise on the Modern Props Deacquisition Auction page, which confirmed for me that this is the Daninos design.

Source: sideofbeans

[startrekdesign]

Jazz Lamp designed by Ferdinand Alexander Porsche for PAF Studio 1989

Ferdinand Alexander Porsche was a German automotive and industrial designer, best known as the designer of the first Porsche 911. His Jazz lamp, designed in 1989, features an extendable body, and must have been a favorite of Trek production designers, as it was used in The Undiscovered Country, The Next Generation, Voyager, and Enterprise. The screencaps here are from The Undiscovered Country, TNG “First Contact,” VOY “Ex Post Facto,” and ENT “Horizon.”

Source: Ex Astris Scientia

[startrekdesign]

Stratos Fan designed by Ron Rezek 1986

Ron Rezek is an American industrial designer, best known for his lighting designs. His Arno Sconce was also used throughout TNG. The Stratos fan, designed in 1986, was conceived of as a modern, minimal take on traditional ceiling fans, which at the time were still largely being produced in line with neo-Victorian aesthetics. It was used in The Next Generation episode, “The Game,” in Etana’s bedroom on Risa.

Source: James Tucker

[startrekdesign]

Panton Chair designed by Verner Panton 1967

Verner Panton was an eminent Danish furniture and interior designer, best known for his colorful Space Age designs from the 1960’s. His Panton chair was the first chair design to be constructed from a single piece of plastic, and remains his best known work. Several Panton chairs were used in Enterprise, as set dressing for the settlement on Trialas IV.

[startrekdesign]

Pom Pom Wall Art by C. Jeré c. 1970’s-1980’s

C. Jeré was an American metalworking company founded by Curtis Freiler and Jerry Fels, with the goal of creating “gallery-quality art for the masses. This wall art was used in several episode of DS9, as set dressing for several crew quarters.

[startrekdesign]

Peanut Chair designed by Stephane Rondel for Rondel Design 1991

Stephane Rondel is a New Zealand-based architect and industrial designer, known for his use of sculptural, organic shapes. His Peanut Chair was used in the Voyager episode, “Remember,” as set dressing for B’Ellana Torres’s psychically-induced dreams of Enara Prime.

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Rainbow Model A-5040 by Artup Lighting c. 1980’s

Artup was an American lighting manufacturer. Their Rainbow A-5040 sconce utilizes dichroic glass, which is a process by which layers of glass and micro-layers of metal or oxides are stacked  in such a way that different colors are produced, depending upon how light passes through or is reflected off of the surface. Several of these sconces were used in the TNG episodes, “The Most Toys,” in Kivas Fajo’s collection room, and “Brothers,” in Dr. Soong’s Lab.

The non-Trek image is from Etsy user, Retroxl.

[startrekdesign]

Drunken Kluk Kluk Decanter designed by Jacob E. Bang for Holmegaard c. 1930’s

Jacob E. Bang was a Danish glassware designer, best known for his work for Holmegaard. The Kluk Kluk decanter style (named for the sound made when poured) has been produced by Holmegaard since the 1850’s, but the style used in Star Trek can be identified as Bang’s design from the Royal Crown stopper (visible in the “Journey to Babel”  screencap). It was used in several episodes of The Original Series.

The non-Trek image is from FRG Objects/Design.

Source: Quark’s Qantina

[startrekdesign]

Dining Chair designed by Studio Archirivolto for Fasem c. 1980’s

Studio Archirivolto is an Italian architecture and industrial design firm, founded by Claudio Dondoli and Marco Pocci. These dining chair for Fasem feature steel frames and asymmetrical legs. They were used in Captain Picard’s Café des Artistes holodeck program, in the TNG episode, “We’ll Always Have Paris.”

[startrekdesign]

MICKE Desk designed by Henrik Preutz for IKEA 2011

Henrik Preutz is a contemporary industrial designer, working for IKEA. The MICKE desk is a common item in home offices and bedrooms. It was used in Discovery, as set dressing for Burnham and Tilly’s quarters.