Simple pleasures

Just love everything about these babies ..... the tubular steel, the cantilevered frame, and slatted seats and back.  Beautiful.  Oh, and for the enthusiasts, this set dates from the 1940/50s and was probably
made in Switzerland by Embru for Wohnbedarf - at least, that was what the blurb said - and who are we to disagree!

Images:  Modern Furniture via Deconet

fun is good!

OK, so back to business.  But what to blog about?  Errrr.  Ummm.  We've been searching for something different, something out of the ordinary, something a little bit fun - and bingo, Fun Makes Good came knocking!  Specialising in re-working previously unloved items of furniture with stunning bespoke upholstery, Fun Makes Good - established by Scottish textile designer Eleanor Young - blends traditional techniques with a distinctive graphic aesthetic.  Take this set of Boomerang Chairs for Slagelse Møbelvaerk, each with an individual design upholstered using parts of the existing vinyl and damaged sections replaced with new vinyl pieces.  What fun!   
 

           

Images:  Fun Makes Good

Pick a colour, any colour ...

Images:  Bloomberry via Deconet

Plan b

WEdid-ID is a design collaborative and consultancy studio based in Cyprus that utilise local materials, craftsmen and factories in the development of their initial designs.  Designed in 2009, their plywood 'b Chair' was initially inspired by the modernity of 1950s and 60s Danish furniture as well as traditional Cypriot woodcraft, but evolved into an exercise of floating elements (seat and back) and utilising CNC (computer numerical control) cutting - and no, we're not entirely sure what this means - with hand construction.

Credits/Images:  WEdid-ID

Lovely lines

We haven't really talked very much about Alvar Aalto, but we couldn't pass up the opportunity to show you this lounge chair - still with its original upholstery - designed by Aalto in 1932 and made by Artek.  Aalto viewed furniture as an extension of his architecture, and this particular design evolved from his first large commission - the Paimio Sanatorium in Finland.  To furnish the sanatorium, Aalto first looked to Italian modernism and tubular steel for its hygienic qualities.  However, he decided the effect was too harsh for the intended environment and instead turned to wood for its warmer qualities.  Aalto developed a new construction process for manufacturing solid frames by layering thin sheets of birch, and then pressing and bending them using steam.  The process yielded the same light, elastic qualities of Nordic skis, which lead him to develop a line of chairs throughout the 1930s that rested on wooden runners rather than four legs.

Credits/Images:  Dosbananos

Searching

We took at leisurely stroll down to London's Southbank yesterday and popped into the Vintage Marketplace which formed part of the Vintage Festival.  Coinciding with the 60th anniversary of the Festival of Britain, we were keen to sniff out some British designs still in their original state - unadulterated, un-modernised and just as they would have been way back when.  The search was on .... and hiding amongst the usual suspects - Bertoia, Jacobsen, Saarinen, Eames - we did managed to spot a BA3 chair by Ernest Race, a set of Polo chairs by Robin Day, an unidentified chair which looks very British and so we've included it here (ahem!) - plus nestling almost out of shot is a set of stacking chairs by Eric Lyons - a C3 'Jason' chair by Karl Jacobs and Frank Guilles and a set of S40 stacking chairs for Kandya Ltd which we didn't managed to pap.  All in all, not bad going!

Images:  chairsmith ®