The Miss Blanche armchair is named after the central figure in the Tennessee Williams drama “A Streetcar Named Desire”. Shiro Kuramata’s Plexiglas roses refer to the dreamlike world of illusion in which Blanche lives. The use of nature as an ornament is reinterpreted by means of a technological process. In keeping with our world of perfected illusions, ornamentation is no longer merely superficial. Rather, it is nature preserved in a dreamlike state of suspense between presence and inaccessibility. The contrast between the ultra-modern materials and the reduced design of the armchair underscores the archetypal symbolism of the rose. The imitation roses are poured by hand into a mold with liquid acrylic resin, which can be processed at room temperature. The mixture then dries slowly. The air bubbles that develop around the roses have to be suctioned off, a costly procedure. In the end, the acrylic glass is the reason why the chair is so immensely heavy, weighing in at seventy kilos, a sharp contrast to its dematerialized appearance. By handling his materials in a poetic way, Kuramata creates objects that appear to have transcended the laws of gravity and function.