There’s nothing accidental or arbitrary about the work of architect Lee Mindel. Describing his new collection of furnishings for Ralph Pucci International, the erudite AD100 Hall of Famer traces an elaborate web of influences and inspirations, both legendary and arcane: Jean-Michel Frank, Georges Jouve, Pol Chambost, Serge Roche, Isamu Noguchi, Henry Moore, Vallauris, Gustavsberg. “You look, you study, but you never copy. The point of this or any design exercise is to make something new, relevant, beautiful,” Mindel professes. Working alongside Pucci’s own master sculptor, Michael Evert, Mindel spent months during the pandemic experimenting in the company’s studio in Manhattan, developing a design language attuned to the possibilities of Pucci’s proprietary Plasterglass material. “You have to ask the material what it wants to be in terms of form, structure, and…
