Before Harry Bertoia made his eponymous furniture collection for Knoll in the early 50s, he was an artist and jewelry maker. He even made the wedding bands for Charles and Ray Eames. But once his gridded metal collection became a hit at Knoll he’s been known first and foremost as a furniture designer.
The most famous of the five pieces he made is, of course, the Diamond chair, a chair that’s more sculpture than traditional seating. In fact, Bertoia noted that “If you look at these chairs, they are mainly made of air, like sculptures. Space passes right through them.” As one of the most important pieces of furniture designed in the 20th century, it’s the Cooper-Hewitt’s Object of the Month for April.
Made from welded steel in polished or satin chrome or bonded rilsan, it’s scratch, chip and chemical resistant. Some of the pieces in the collection include cushions, which are affixed with snaps or feature stretched fabric, pulled taut across the entire front. I wish I could sit in one all month long, but until I upgrade my simple wooden Adirondack deck chairs to something of the midcentury variety, I will continue to gaze longingly at Bertoia’s masterpiece from afar. [ harrybertoia.org ]
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Much of Berlin-based furniture designer Johanna Dehio‘s work is inspired by make shift structures. Wandwinkel, or Wall-Angles, is a two-legged side table that “requires only the correct inclination and support of a wall.” Similarly, Kleiderstiele, or Clothing-Sticks, is a coat rack that’s really more like experimental furniture; Hangers are attached to long rods that lean up against the wall, pinning your jacket there until you need it again.
One piece that doesn’t require ample wall space is Dehio’s clever Hockberbank, or Stool-Bench. It does, however, require a little user participation. The system consists of several wooden planks with circular cut-outs that fit over stools. If you only need seating for two, simply take the two-seater plank and stack the other stools. If you need four, or want two three-seater benches, just make the combinations and store the rest of the system. The planks are so lovely you don’t even need to tuck them away in your closet. If Dehio’s other designs are any indication, I’d suggest leaning them against the wall.
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Patricia Urquiola‘s Vieques collection isn’t her first line of furniture for Spanish retailer Kettal. Her Maia collection, an outdoor series, won the AD Architectural Design Award in 2008. With Vieques, Urquiola continues to pursue her interest in combining new technology with traditional craftsmanship.
“I like finding the most suitable material for each project,” Urquiola says. “Working on technologically developed materials using craft techniques, or using an industrial process on a material from the past.” For Vieques she strove to “maintain the lateral aluminum double moulding, but with a seat and back similar to taut netting, a soft and pleasant grid, in three dimensions, which we have achieved after two years of research.”
Yes, you read that correctly. Urquiola spent two years researching and developing a totally new, revolutionary 3D fabric called Nico d’Ape, available in a rainbow of colors for the Vieques indoor/outdoor collection.
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Gum Design is an Italian studio run by designer Laura Fiaschi and architect Gabriele Pardi. Together, they have created a diverse portfolio that includes architecture, exhibition spaces, graphic design, housewares, art direction and furniture, the most recent example of which is Mastro, a beautiful work table created for the Italian furniture company De Castelli. The table isn’t available on De Castelli’s site or Fiaschi and Paridi’s, so as far as I can tell the plans are drawn but the table has yet to be built.
The work surface is made of solid iron that’s been acid-etched and bent on the sides to create slotted rails for two firwood trestles to slide in and out of. Personally, I would leave this table assembled all year long. I think it makes a great transitional piece, working as both a work and dining surface, but its space-saving design makes it ideal for temporary projects that require a little extra work space.
In an interview, Fiaschi spoke about her emotional approach to design. You definitely get the sense of the handmade, personal involvement in all of Gum Design’s objects, including Mastro.
“In all areas of creativity you can find excellent things and banal things which seem to dominate thinking in general when it is linked to the function, to the use of things; while we believe that there are other “features”. Let’s talk about emotions and feelings that can involve men and women in their everyday relationships. We think that the products can contain and reveal emotions, lead by their users by their hands towards new experiences, and create a significant relationship.”
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If you’ve visited the Guggenheim lately you may have seen Earth Blocks – no, not the ones used to build houses (though those are really cool, too). I’m talking about the kid’s version, Earth Toy Earth Blocks, which are like sustainable Legos. Made from a composite of cedar tree bark, compressed saw dust, coffee beans and green tea leaves, the blocks don’t come in shades of red, blue or yellow. In fact, you’d better hope your kid likes dark green and brown a lot.
They’re a lot softer than Legos, which means it won’t hurt as much when you accidentally step on one, but The Wall Street Journal points out that since they’re softer and don’t snap together as tightly as Legos, they’re “less than ideal for making lightsabers.” And since the blocks do actually smell like coffee and tea, they’re probably better suited for the big kids out there. I can’t be the only who never outgrew her Legos, right?
You buy them from the Guggenheim online, $30 for 50 blocks.
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The Paredes Center of Furniture Design in Portugal recently named the GVAL chair the First Prize Winner in the Making Chairs category of their Art on Chairs exhibition. The theme this year is “an idea for the world on a chair,” which is so open-ended and vague I’m not sure it’s even worth it to name a theme at all. Still, their intentions to scout new talent is nobel, and the four designers responsible for the GVAL chair – Vanessa Moreno, Gustavo Reboredo, Louis Sicard and Nenad Katic – couldn’t be more deserving. They used layered sheets of plywood to echo the imagery of tree rings. I’m not sure that really comes off, but the patterns of the wood are so gorgeous and the colors are so rich I’m not sure I even care. The best part are the two two ottomans nestled inside the hollow chair, making it a 3-part piece and storage unit in one.
From their studio, OOO My Design:
GVAL is a product that brings surprising and playful use to an object as ordinary as everyday’s chair. In doing so, it pays homage to the most archetypical of all production materials, wood, in its most natural form: a tree. The shape of the chair and the texture of alternating sheets of plywood is inspired by pattern of tree rings, which in a way represent tree’s memory: each ring usually marks the of one year in the life of the tree.
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Your brain may say more form than function but not as much as you might imagine. And the weight and material feel quite appropriate. The mismatch may be the highly philosophical Fionacci sequence with it’s base of the average hand width that determines the knives proportions and the name of these knives: the Meeting Knives. Suggested retail is $1,250 for the set of four though $750 online. You are paying for precision as the knives fit perfectly together. Not surprising that Yves Béhar, designer of the Herman Miller Sayl, a least materials design solution, put a set of these knives on his holiday gift list. The design won the European Design Award for Cutlery Creation. [ designapplause objects ]
designer: mia schamallenbach
producer: deglon
material: stainless steel, teflon
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Just when you thought someone couldn’t possibly design a better corkscrew, Michael Antrobus comes along with Ground Barware, his new line of bar accessories. His bottle opener and corkscrew are made by twisting flat, stainless steel bars into forms that are as elegant and sophisticated as they are minimal. And with the commercial barware market flooded with over-designed gadgets, the simplicity of Antrobus’ pieces (they’re held together by a single weld!) are refreshing.
According to Antrobus, “each object is formed from a single length of 4000 Series Stainless Steel. First, a common tool is used to twist sections of each rectangular blank 180 degrees. A single twist forms a handle for the corkscrew and two opposing twists at the apex of the handle add the functional characteristic of the bottle opener. After twisting the blanks are taken to a fly press where radial bends are added. Once complete and correctly aligned the form of each object is secured with the application of a single precise weld, the weld is ground flush, before the objects are brushed to a matt finish.”
The Ground Barware collection stemmed from a stationery set he worked on while studying at Kingston University. The project aimed to find a domestic application for products made by the British steel industry so Antrobus could keep his entire design process local, from materials and fabrication to production. Like anyone with even half a conscience I’m a sucker for anything with a small carbon footprint, but since I’ve got Mad Men on my mind (series premiere is this Sunday night!) I can’t help but think Don Draper would most definitely have these matte steel babies in his office bar. I’ll drink to that!
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29 march noon cst | double cabines | george nakashima | 1973 | click > enlarge
The 2012 auction season opens with our bi-annual Modern Design sale featuring works by renowned designers of the 20th century. Sale highlights include an impressive selection of American mid-century design with works by George Nelson & Associates, Charles and Ray Eames, Greta Magnusson-Grossman and Isamu Noguchi. Works by Pierre Jeanneret, George Nakashima, Guido Gambone and a collection of designs from a home and interior in Glencoe, Illinois by Jordan Mozer all figure prominently in this auction.
duchamp sofa | jordan mozer | 1994
waikiki lounges model c4720 | walter lamb | 1952
Modern design features nearly 250 works of exceptional design. Each item will be featured in our award-winning, full-color auction catalog as well as presented in our online preview at [ View lots ] Gallery preview will open 22 > 28 March, open Monday – Saturday 10 am – 5pm and Sunday by appointment | 1440 West Hubbard Street Chicago | 312 563 0020 [ wright auction ] [ auction begins 29 march 2012 | noon cst ]
