watch the birdie

Wednesday 4 May 2011

The Flamingo chair by Ernest Race for Race Furniture is a post-war British classic.  We stumbled upon this Flamingo over at Orange & Brown, who not only delighted us with their images of this inspired chair, but also captivated us with their succinct narrative about the designer himself ..... "Race - a textile and furniture designer, manufacturer, retailer – was one of the most inventive and challenging exponents of mid-century British design.  Race's highly personal design vocabulary, at it's height in the immediate post-war period and at the Festival of Britain of 1951, was a fluid, skilled, and at times eccentric synthesis of Modernism with Victoriana, and of mass-production with intelligent improvisation.  Race's single most important contribution to modern furniture design was his articulation of the transition from the theoretical rigour of pre-war Modernism to the accessibility and optimism of post-war Contemporary."







Credits/Images:  Orange & Brown

4 comments:

  1. It seems like the grandfather of the Saarinen's Womb chair. :) Really nice as well!

    Ciao!

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  2. Beautiful, like sister to the Heron. Race is certainly a favourite designer of mine. But, in my opinion, the Antelope remains his greatest achievement.

    Thanks!

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  3. MidCenturyHome: The Womb was designed about 10 years before the Flamingo!

    tractorgirl: In our opinion, it's the black glides at the base of each leg which make this chair stand out from the crowd.

    Mr Treanor: We prefer the Flamingo to the Heron - the Flamingo has better legs. As for the Flamingo v the Antelope, we couldn't possibly comment!

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