Contract - January/February 2015 - 51

PHOTOGRAPHY: MARCUS MANSI/MOMA (7); PAUL OTT (4, 5, 8, AND 10); ANDREW TAHLIER (9); COURTESY 13&9 DESIGN (11); COURTESY INNOCAD (1 AND 2); THOMAS SCHAUER (3); STEFAN ZAUNER (6)

11
Lesjak and his partner in life
and business, Anastasia Su,
started the product design
company called 13&9 Design
in 2013. Su has a background
in product and fashion design.
Together, their product
offerings include fashion and
jewelry items such as rings
made of Corian (on Lesjak, 7)
and sunglasses called Diamond
Shades (on Su and Lesjak, 9).
The Rock Collection of lamps,
offered as floor lamps or
pendants (8) include paperthin layers of shale as
lampshades. Wood Light (10),
handcrafted in Austria,
features a hexagonal-shaped
honeycomb wood body.
The LOW COLLECTION (11),
designed for VITEO
OUTDOORS, is an outdoor
furniture line of low
seating made from Corian.

INNOCAD has already completed one luxury
condominium interior in New York, and its residential
portfolio includes many multifamily residential buildings
in Austria. One recently completed project, called C34,
places 102 apartments within and adjacent to a 1907
Art Nouveau Graz building. Also in Graz, the FLUR 20
building-an affordable multifamily complex of 26 units
in an intricate composition of balconies and exterior
staircases-illustrates that INNOCAD can design for a
modest budget. The firm has also completed a handful
of healthcare projects, including the LKH Feldbach
neurological outpatient clinic, which is a commission it
won in a 2009 competition.
A big shift for INNOCAD came in 2012 when the
firm won an invited competition to design a welcome
and retail center for the Landeszeughaus, or Armory
Museum, in Graz. Built in 1642, the armory is the most
well-preserved building of its type in the world. Lesjak
assembled an interdisciplinary team-one that could
address lighting, sound, and product design. He
brought Anastasia Su onto the project as a
collaborating designer, and that was the start of their
personal and business partnership. Lesjak and Su
designed four ovular volumes for the Cannon Hall
interior of the armory that reference the Murnockel,
a round stone used in construction in medieval Graz.
Sections of vertical and horizontal black-painted
plywood slot together in a series of cubes that define
spheres, containing the museum shop, office space,
and tourist welcome counters. The design is an elegant
synthesis of architecture and product design, and
offers a recognizable modularity seen in the rest of
INNOCAD's work. Dubbed "Rolling Stones," Cannon Hall
won the retail category of the Interiors Awards in 2014.
Cannon Hall opened in early 2013, just as Lesjak
and Su launched 13&9 Design-13 refers to her birth
date, and 9 was his jersey number when he played

soccer-to design products. The entire 13&9 Design line
of clothing, jewelry, furniture, and lighting is united by two
themes: geometric modularity and materiality that defies
expectations. Many of their clothing, jewelry, and
accessory items are based on the hexagon, which is also
a common modular element in INNOCAD's architecture.
A partnership that builds attraction and intrigue
The 13&9 Design Rock Collection of lamps and furniture
implements paper-thin layers of shale as veneers. As
lampshades, the unique textures and imperfections of
the rock offer a molten glow. Made by trained Austrian
craftspeople, the Rock Collection includes floor and
pendant lamps while the furniture includes tables in
many sizes. The LOW COLLECTION, designed for
VITEO OUTDOORS, is an outdoor furniture line of low
seating made from Corian with multiple seat heights
and reclining options. The Diamond Shades-
sunglasses manufactured with cellulose acetate-were
the result of a collaboration with eyewear designer
Martin Lasnik. A part of the Geometric Collection, which
includes jewelry made of Corian, the Diamond Shades
are highly geometric sunglass styles for men and
women designed using CAD programs. The duo is
currently working with Mohawk Group on a modular,
tiled carpet system that will debut at NeoCon in June.
By confounding material expectations and
utilizing modular forms, Lesjak and Su are building
attraction and intrigue between users and products.
This intrigue can be the basis for a relationship with the
user that infuses the object with meaning beyond that
of an inanimate tool.
"People want to categorize you as much as they
can," Lesjak says. "But for us, freedom is one of our
greatest values: the freedom to be creative, to cross
borders, to do what we like with passion." c

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Contract - January/February 2015

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