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Obit> Ali Tayar, 1959–2016

Obit> Ali Tayar, 1959–2016

Turkish-born modernist architect and furniture designer Ali Tayar has passed away.

Tayar grew up in Istanbul and studied architecture at the University of Stuttgart and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He founded Parallel Design Partnership in 1993, which derives inspiration “from the twin imperatives of structural behavior and the methods of mass-production.”

He is remembered for his love of modern design, which he has applied to a range of projects including everything from furniture and hardware, to restaurants Pop Burger and Pizza Bar in New York City.

As a student, Tayar fell in love with The Rockefeller apartments on 54th Street in New York City. Many years later he made his home there, after fully restoring it to its original pre-war state. He is known for his residential designs, which include the carbon fiber Swiss House in Bern, inspired by the interior design he completed for the same family’s carbon fiber yacht. He also completely redesigned the interior of a Soho loft using bespoke prefabricated panels based on a Swiss modular housing system from the 1960s.

Additionally, he designed the installations for David Hockney’s digital images at the Fondation Pierre Bergé-Yves Saint Laurent, Paris, and the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Copenhagen. Tayar also served on the jury for AN’s annual design awards in 2015.

His work has been featured in countless exhibits including Mutant Materials in Contemporary Design and Workspheres at New York’s Museum of Modern Art, Aluminum by Design at the Cooper-Hewitt and U.S. Design 1975–2000 at the Denver Art Museum. His work is represented in the permanent collections of the Musée des Arts Decoratifs de Montreal, the Denver Art Museum, the Carnegie Art Museum, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

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