chairsmith

Monday, 11 October 2010

Spotted this one yesterday ........... beautiful, simply beautiful.

Paulistano Chair by Paulo Mendes da Rocha

Thursday, 7 October 2010

The Standard Chair got us hooked on Jean Prouvé. And its not just his chairs that we can't get enough of ...... its the tables and desks too.

We'll let his furniture do the talking ......

Standard Chair #305, 1952

Compass Table, 1952

Two seater desk #850, 1952

Dismountable chair, 1948

Direction Office Armchair #352, 1951

Cité Armchair, 1933

Chaise en Bois (all-wood version of the Standard Chair)

Antony or Light Chair #356, 1954

Compass Desk

Oak plywood office chair on adjustable steel base

Images: Okolo, Curated Objects, Enormous Champion, ArtNet, iCollector, The Design Vote, MOMA

Wednesday, 6 October 2010

Two new names for you today; Treanor and Hoare. And a couple of familiar ones too; Aalto and Eames.

Liam Treanor produces beautifully crafted furniture with references from the 1930s through to the 1970s.

Treanor's Carabao Chair is inspired by the works of pioneer Moderns such as Alvar Aalto and the Eames. The back rest acts as a spring for comfort purposes and is made of laminated birch ply, as is the chair panel. The backrest and seat panel are available in various colours and the frame is made from sustainably sourced English sycamore. A beautiful piece of furniture I think you will agree.

And the Caraboa certainly reminded chairsmith of Aalto's Paimio Armchair with a bit of Hallway Chair 403 thrown in for good measure; and in our humble opinion, it looks just as glorious as Aalto's pieces.

Paimio Armchair

Hallway Chair 403

Tortie Hoare's design ethos is simple: it must be ergonomic, durable and aesthetically pleasing.

Hoare has researched ways to create structural 3D shapes that are more eco-friendly than using resin or plastics, and this research lead to the discovery of the ancient process of boiling leather to create armour. Using this technique, Hoare combines old methods with new ways of thinking to create contemporary furniture. The Butterfly Chair (shown above) is made of woven aero ply, hessian and resin and is upholstered in linen and leather.

A stunning chair ........ with an Eames influence perhaps?

Plastic Armchair by Charles & Ray Eames

Tortie is certainly one very talented lady ..... a worthy Designer of the Year 2010 winner!

Credits/Images: Arts Thread, Furniture Fashion, Liam Treanor, Tortie Hoare and Vitra

Room service

Tuesday, 5 October 2010

We heard on the grapevine that Sir Terence Conran celebrated his birthday yesterday, so we thought we do a piece (OK, OK, so we're a day late!) on one of our favourite Conran productions; Boundary.

Located in Shoreditch, Boundary is a hotel which boosts twelve guest bedrooms - each of which has a different design that has been inspired by legendary designers or design movements. Choose from Charles & Ray Eames, Josef Hoffmann, Bauhaus, Andree Putman, Le Corbusier & Charlotte Perriand, Heath Robinson, Eileen Gray, British, Young British Designers, Scandinavian, Shaker and Mies Van Der Rohe.

Which room would you choose?

The Charles & Ray Eames Room includes the Lounge chair and ottoman in white leather and walnut, RAR rocking chair (surely not the one of the shelf??) and the classic Aluminum group office chair.

The British Room features a patchwork chair by Lisa Whatmough of Squint.

Probably our favourite, the Eileen Gray Room houses the Bibendum chair in white leather and her Roquebrune chair.

The Josef Hoffmann Room is dominated by his Purkersdorf arm chair in white lacquer with cushions in a 'black and white' Quadratmuster design. It also includes his two seater sofa and his famous Fledermaus chair at the desk.

The Shaker Room features reproductions of original furniture with the addition of some contemporary furniture by Ercol which reflects the same simplicity that the Shakers sought to achieve in their interiors.

The Le Corbusier & Charlotte Perriand Room houses Perriand's desk chair (LC7), his classic two seat sofa with a green painted frame (which is how it was originally produced) and the LC1 armchair with a pony skin seat and back (shown above in black leather).

The Mies Van Der Rohe Room contains his comfortable Barcelona chair and ottoman and the MR side chair.

Credits/Images: Boundary

Best of British

Monday, 4 October 2010

We were very excited late last night when doing a bit of virtual research. Our tails immediately started wagging as we perused the delicious offerings at James UK, an award winning contemporary British furniture company. With all of their products handmade in the UK utilising traditional techniques and modern technologies, they are keen supporters of the British manufacturing industry. And if that's not enough, they also make a conscious effort to responsibly source their materials so as to minimise their impact on the environment. We're impressed!

Here are just a few pieces from their quite stunning range for you to drool over ...…..