• CALENDAR
    • Add Your Event
  • architecture
    • art & literature
    • awards
    • buildings
    • sustainable
    • prefabricated
    • public space
    • residences
    • urban planning
  • design
    • art & literature
    • awards
    • collectables
    • concept
    • fashion
    • sustainable
    • home
    • lifestyle
    • safety & special needs
    • transportation
    • workplace
  • editor’s pick
    • featured
    • gift ideas.
    • interviews
    • opinion
  • events
    • auctions
    • competitions
    • conference & Exhibitions
    • fairs
  • news
    • latest news
    • elsewhere
    • lifestyle
    • people
    • producer
    • retailer
DesignApplauseDesignApplauseyour daily design dose
  • CALENDAR
    • Add Your Event
  • architecture
    • art & literature
    • awards
    • buildings
    • sustainable
    • prefabricated
    • public space
    • residences
    • urban planning
  • design
    • art & literature
    • awards
    • collectables
    • concept
    • fashion
    • sustainable
    • home
    • lifestyle
    • safety & special needs
    • transportation
    • workplace
  • editor’s pick
    • featured
    • gift ideas.
    • interviews
    • opinion
  • events
    • auctions
    • competitions
    • conference & Exhibitions
    • fairs
  • news
    • latest news
    • elsewhere
    • lifestyle
    • people
    • producer
    • retailer

design classic

Home Tag design classic
cooper hewitt’s object of the month: bertoia’s wing chair.

cooper hewitt’s object of the month: bertoia’s wing chair.

Apr 8, 2012

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 ]




about perrin drumm

If piet mondrian made tables instead.

May 12, 2011


At first glance the most amazing part of the Nzela table by Kayiwa, a Scandinavian design studio, might be its eye-popping Piet Mondrian-inspired color blocking, or it might be the fact that each person seated at the table gets their own private triangle of leg room, but in fact the most incredible feature is the assembly. The Nzela, which you can buy online, arrives at your doorstep fresh from Scandinavia in a big flat package. The long birch plywood rectangular components fit together like puzzle pieces by the slits cut midway through – another example of deceptive simplicity, something Scandinavia seems to have mastered. Of course, good design comes at a price and able DIY-ers might want to try their hand at making their own version of the Nzela before they fork over $17,400.

designer: kayiwa


about perrin drumm

Contact Us

We're currently offline. Send us an email and we'll get back to you, asap.

Send Message
DesignApplause

your daily design dose

Follow Us


about us
contact/help
privacy policy

ADVERTISEMENT

LATEST NEWS

  • lissoni new york introduces lissoni architecture.
  • ford switches gears re most dramatic auto business model switch in your lifetime.
  • expo chicago 2023 discovers artists that embrace architecture and design.
  • a man for all reasons brit architect/designer david chipperfield wins 2023 pritzker architecture prize.
  • the beginning is the most important part of the work. hello 2023.

All content ©2007 > 2022 DesignApplause