Smitten

Perhaps it was the similarity to a Robin Day design that attracted us to this quite phenomenal piece by Arno Votteler for Knoll, or perhaps its just the black lacquered tubular steel, moulded armrests and blue hopsak of this Mod 35 lounge chair designed in 1952 that grabbed our attention - either way, we're smitten!

 

Images:  modern-furniture.de

Testing, testing

We stumbled across these photos of a shop window displaying an impressive collection of Vitra Miniatures, and that gave us an idea ....... for a quiz.  So, how many chairs and their respective designers can you name?

Time starts ..... NOW.  And no cheating!




Images:  Andrew Yang, Aqua Rabbit

Really?

Chairs.  By Grant Featherston.  He was Australian.  Yes, Australian.  Not Scandinavian.

Credits/Images:   R G Madden (Countour Chair and Ottoman), Sharpiro Auctioneers (Eleanor E1 Armchair), Architonic (R152 Contour Chair), Antiques Reporter (B230 Chairs)

Simplicity

We found ourselves completely drawn to the simplicity of this interior, with its white walls used to stunning effect as a blank canvas to showcase the eclectic mix of 1960s rosewood furniture and ....... well, the impressive collection of Les Arcs chairs by Charlotte Perriand.  And to think that the young Ms. Perriand was initially turned away by the legendary Le Corbusier after being told, "We don't embroider cushions here", doesn't bear thinking about!

 

Images:  Yatzer

Bespoke luxury

Not really a post about chair per se, or upholstery, but more the intriguing work of textile artist Helen Murray.  Murray developed a passion for surface relief whilst on a research trip in India.  Captivated by carvings in wood and marble, Murray wanted to translate similar effects into textiles.  Drawing inspiration from her rural upbringing, urban city life and architecture, we think you'll agree that Murray's work is certainly innovative and unique in its construction.

Credits/Images:  Helen Amy Murray

Forum topics

The light and airy interior of this 1960s house, featured in February's Ideal Home, really shows off the wonderful furniture ............ and top of our want list is Robin Day's Forum Sofa, designed for Hille.

  

Images:  Ideal Home, Deconet

Purple

We've not been hugely colourful this week, so here's a quite magnificent blast of purple .......

Ernest Race's BA range was designed to utilise aluminium recycled from decommissioned WW2 aircraft. Produced outside the restraints of the Utility Furniture scheme introduced during WW2, it signalled the birth of a new light and airy contemporary style. All of the BA range is cleverly engineered. It uses few components and the minimum of materials to generate strength and comfort. The design helped establish the tapered leg detail as a major visual element of the post-war style.

Credits/Image:  Design and Industries Association, Design Museum

Shell collection

Charles Eames designed the moulded 'shell' chairs for Herman Miller in 1948 and the original versions were produced in fibreglass. Whilst these chairs are still in production today, they are now manufactured using polypropylene (plastic).  The collection of images below show in beautiful detail the magic of the fibreglass chair in all its glory .......

Images:  Minimolli, Geraint Morgan, KisstheDesign, Vintage Gallery, 1st Dibs

Back to basics

OK, something a little different today, but if you love a good story and adore good old fashioned craftsmanship, then stick with.



Last year, designer William Warren participated in a project named Bodging Milano in which nine designers each made a greenwood chair in an outdoor workshop using only old fashioned hand tools, pole lathes and steam benders.  The design of Warren's original greenwood chair has now been re-worked, and the result is ........



........ the Sunray Chair, which is a traditionally constructed Windsor chair, with a carved seat, spindles and a steam bent back bow.  The spindles in the back do not run into the seat block, but instead fan out from the lower back rail giving a sunrise effect. The top of the seat has nothing joining into it, allowing the curved back and seat to sit comfortably together without touching.

Our favourite, the upholstered version of the Sunray, incorporates jute webbing - a standard upholstery material, but normally hidden under springs, cushions and fabrics - which is left exposed and woven in a three way pattern and joined to the lower rails and the upper bow.

Fascinating stuff!

Credits/Images:  William Warren, Case Furniture

Classic living

Everything you could (almost) want .......  a Bertoia's side chair, an Eames Lounger and some DWRs, the Florence Knoll Sofa, the Noguchi table and the must have three volume set of Phaidon Design Classics.  When can we move in??!

Images:  Filip001

tulips

Designed by Eero Saarinen in 1956, the Tulip is a single-legged chair made from fibreglass-reinforced resin.  In his purist approach to architecture and interior design, Finnish-born Saarinen sought the essential idea and reduced it to the most effective structural solution within an overall unity of design.  To that end, he designed the Tulip in terms of its setting, rather than a particular shape;  which is somewhat ironic as its the Tulip's shape, in our opinion, which has lead it to become one of the great design classics.

Images:  Urban Decor, Konsepti