Konstantin Grcic has quickly established himself as a master of contemporary design in the last twenty years. His grand theme has been a hyper-logical, ultra high-tech approach. He isn't into coddling us; he's more interested in tweaking the way we live, with quietly transgressive designs. Today marks his first U.S. retrospective, "Decisive Designs," at the Art Institute of Chicago. The show runs through January 10, but if you can't make it, here's a taste.

Pictured: Grcic's instantly iconic Chair One, which presaged a boom in faceted furniture, made possible by new, cutting edge techniques in molding and prototyping.

Concrete isn't exactly a traditional furniture material, but Grcic designed the Table One to look suited to both outside and inside--the heavy concrete base looks elegant and delicate, but it's still incredibly heavy and tough.

The 360° Chair is a perfect example of Grcic's thought process. It doesn't look all that comfortable, and it's not meant to be. Recent studies have shown that "active seating," which demands that you balance yourself, makes people to burn far more calories everyday. Grcic approached that idea by designing something that essentially doesn't let you sit for very long--thus, it requires you to get up and move around.

The Landen lounge, a chair that almost forces conversation on the sitters, while bearing an uncanny resemblance to a lunar lander.

Perhaps Grcic's best-known work, the Mayday Lamp. Grcic was inspired by the no-nonsense functionality of mechanic's lamps, and he aimed to bring that to domestic interiors, with a clever hook that lets you hang the lamp anywhere you need.

The Miura barstool.

The stackable Monza chair, with a high-contrast plastic backrest.

Another indoor/outdoor piece, the Osorom table/bench. It's meant to look almost transparent, with a free floating, unbraced form made possible Fiberglas resin.

The Myto chair, inspired by the Mito motorbike by Cagiva. The low-slung, cantilevered form wouldn't have been possible without a new, high-tech plastic polymer.

The Passami il Sale table set.

The Pipe Table for Muji/Thonet is actually an essay on furniture history, evoking Thonet's iconic, Bauhaus designs.

The Tip Bucket. Unlike most trashcans with step-on lid openers, this one places the stripped down mechanics on the outside, so that it's virtually impossible to break.

The Chaos chair overturns the usual approach to upholstery. The facets have a function: When you're seated in the chair, you've got a choice about where you're facing, without having to move the seat.