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| mihdesign.com.pl |
This icon of 20th century modern design will be genuinely missed and fondly remembered for his work.
Showing posts with label Irving Harper. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Irving Harper. Show all posts
Wednesday, August 5, 2015
Farewell to Irving Harper (1916-2015)
Irving Harper's contributions to the George Nelson Office, including the 1949 Ball clock, the Herman Miller logo, and the 1956 Marshmallow sofa, were invaluable. Later in life, his intricate paper sculpture fascinated all who were fortunate enough to see it.
This icon of 20th century modern design will be genuinely missed and fondly remembered for his work.
This icon of 20th century modern design will be genuinely missed and fondly remembered for his work.
Thursday, September 5, 2013
What were they thinking?
I only have one thing to say about this video: Herman Miller should have stuck to print ads.
OK, maybe a few more words...If you love the coolness of the Irving Harper print ads, you've got to see this to believe it. These TV commercials are so bad they defy description.
OK, maybe a few more words...If you love the coolness of the Irving Harper print ads, you've got to see this to believe it. These TV commercials are so bad they defy description.
youtube.com
Uploaded by originart - October 29, 2008
Monday, June 17, 2013
How designers live
While researching an upcoming post, I happened upon some extraordinary images of interiors of homes of well-known designers. The photographer, Leslie Williamson, has a spellbinding website that I urge you to visit. Her portfolio includes portraits of craftsmen and artists, as well as interior shots of beautiful spaces. What you see in this post are only a few of my favorites. I'm sure you will have favorites of your own.
All images from lesliewilliamson.com
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All images from lesliewilliamson.com
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| Russel Wright's dining area - Garrison, NY |
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| Vladimir Kagan's living room - New York City, NY |
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| George Nakashima's Reception House - New Hope, PA |
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| Irving Harper's bedroom - Rye, NY |
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| Eva Zeisel's studio shelves - Rockland Co., NY |
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| Charles and Ray Eames's studio - Pacific Palisades, CA |
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| Walter Gropius's living room - Lincoln, MA |
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| John Kapel's living room - Woodside, CA |
Thursday, November 1, 2012
More Irving Harper
My fascination with all things Irving Harper continues. Lately, I've been checking out the Facebook page dedicated to him.
Harper, who is 96 now, said in a New York Times interview in 2010, "The bosses took all the credit after the fact," but he added that he didn't care much anymore that George Nelson got personal credit for a number of his designs. Nevertheless, many of his fans think it's time to set the record straight once and for all. (This was a common practice in many design offices at the time and may have been at least part of the reason Harry Bertoia and John Entenza left the Eames Office.)
Here are only a few of the items with which Harper is credited on the Facebook page:
Harper, who is 96 now, said in a New York Times interview in 2010, "The bosses took all the credit after the fact," but he added that he didn't care much anymore that George Nelson got personal credit for a number of his designs. Nevertheless, many of his fans think it's time to set the record straight once and for all. (This was a common practice in many design offices at the time and may have been at least part of the reason Harry Bertoia and John Entenza left the Eames Office.)
Here are only a few of the items with which Harper is credited on the Facebook page:
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| Pretzel clock |
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| Steering Wheel clock |
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| Sunflower clock |
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| Asterisk clock |
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| Polygon clock |
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| Flock of Butterflies clock |
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| Ball clock |
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| Wheel clock |
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| String clock |
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| Turbine clock |
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| Totem clocks |
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| Cone clock |
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| Pill clock |
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| China Shop fabric for Maharam |
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| Pavement fabric for Maharam |
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| Kangaroo chair |
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| Rosewood storage chest on pedestal |
Monday, October 15, 2012
Paper sculptures of Irving Harper
A few days ago, I posted about Irving Harper and included a video from the Herman Miller series Why Design that showed many of Harper's paper sculptures. I immediately fell in love with the sculptures and had to find still photographs of them, in order to take a longer, closer look.
In case you didn't have time to look at the video, or if you did and were as fascinated as I was by the sculptures, here are several photographs I found on Design Sponge and the Herman Miller site that I think you will enjoy.
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In case you didn't have time to look at the video, or if you did and were as fascinated as I was by the sculptures, here are several photographs I found on Design Sponge and the Herman Miller site that I think you will enjoy.
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| hermanmiller.com |
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| designsponge.com |
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| designsponge.com |
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| hermanmiller.com |
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| hermanmiller.com |
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| designsponge.com |
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| hermanmiller.com |
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| hermanmiller.com |
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| designsponge.com |
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| hermanmiller.com |
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| hermanmiller.com |
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| designsponge.com |
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| hermanmiller.com |
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| hermanmiller.com |
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| designsponge.com |
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| Irving Harper and his wife Belle, a former labor lawyer designsponge.com |
Thursday, October 4, 2012
Irving Harper
Harper decided that he liked this line of work better than architecture, because it was more varied and more entrepreneurial. Thus he went to work with Gilbert Rohde and was in part responsible for the Home Furnishings Focal exhibit at the World's Fair. Afterwards, he went to work for Raymond Loewy and designed interiors. Ernest Farmer, a colleague at Rohde's office, persuaded George Miller to hire Harper.
In 1947 Nelson put Harper in charge of designing trade advertising for the Herman Miller account, but he contributed to many designs that came out of the Nelson office.
According to Harper and John Pile, another designer who worked in the office, George Nelson felt that only one name should be associated with the work that came out of his office. He didn't mind if individual designers were given credit for their work in trade publications, but as far as the consumer was concerned, he wanted the firm to get the credit. As a result, Nelson received personal credit for the work of others in a number of instances.
Harper created the logo for Herman Miller in 1947, as well as numerous Howard Miller clocks, such as the numberless sunburst and the Chronopak series, and several pieces of furniture.
Irving Harper is featured in this week's video in the Why Design series by Herman Miller. The video is my favorite so far, although I have enjoyed the others very much.
Harper, who celebrated his 96th birthday in July, talks about working with George Nelson, about designing the Marshmallow sofa and the Thin Edge group, and he explains how he developed such an extraordinary talent for making paper sculptures. Harper estimates that he has made approximately 300 of the sculptures, which are displayed in his house or stored in his barn. The majority are masks, animals, figures, and abstract pieces inspired by pre-Columbian, African and Southeast Asian art, as well as the Cubism of Picasso.
When you see his paper sculptures, I think you'll be glad you watched the video.
From georgenelson.org, nytimes.com and hermanmiller.com
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| Marshmallow sofa 1stdibs.com |
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| Thin Edge cabinet hermanmiller.com |
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| Howard Miller Model #2202 Sunburst clock liveauctioneers.com |
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| Herman Miller logo imjustcreative.com |
Update: Irving Harper was still alive when this post was published. However, he died on August 4, 2015, which is reflected by date changes at the beginning of the post.
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
A clock by any other name
The Noguchi Ball Clock? I'm sorry, but that just doesn't sound right.
I found a humorous account on georgenelson.org attributed to the book George Nelson: The Design of Modern Design by Stanley Abercrombie. This is so interesting that it bears retelling.
George Nelson recalled the iconic design of the Ball Clock as being a result of a night of drinking with friends and associates Isamu Noguchi, Buckminster Fuller and Irving Harper. According to Nelson:
“And there was one night when the ball clock got developed, which was one of the really funny evenings. Noguchi came by, and Bucky Fuller came by. I’d been seeing a lot of Bucky those days, and here was Irving and here was I, and Noguchi, who can’t keep his hands off anything, you know. It is a marvelous, itchy thing he’s got. He saw we were working on clocks and he started making doodles. Then Bucky sort of brushed Isamu aside. He said, “This is a good way to do a clock,” and he made some utterly absurd thing. Everybody was taking a crack at this…pushing each other aside and making scribbles.
At some point we left. We were suddenly all tired, and we’d had a little bit too much to drink, and the next morning I came back, and here was this roll [of drafting paper], and Irving and I looked at it, and somewhere in this roll there was a ball clock. I don’t know to this day who cooked it up. I know it wasn’t me. It might have been Irving, but he didn’t think so…We both guessed that Isamu had probably done it because he has a genius for doing two stupid things and making something extraordinary…out of the combination….or it could have been an additive thing, but, anyway, we never knew.”
According to georgenelson.com, many years later Irving Harper claimed that he was the actual designer of the Ball Clock, but since nothing was officially written down on paper, the mystery will always remain.
I found a humorous account on georgenelson.org attributed to the book George Nelson: The Design of Modern Design by Stanley Abercrombie. This is so interesting that it bears retelling.
George Nelson recalled the iconic design of the Ball Clock as being a result of a night of drinking with friends and associates Isamu Noguchi, Buckminster Fuller and Irving Harper. According to Nelson:
“And there was one night when the ball clock got developed, which was one of the really funny evenings. Noguchi came by, and Bucky Fuller came by. I’d been seeing a lot of Bucky those days, and here was Irving and here was I, and Noguchi, who can’t keep his hands off anything, you know. It is a marvelous, itchy thing he’s got. He saw we were working on clocks and he started making doodles. Then Bucky sort of brushed Isamu aside. He said, “This is a good way to do a clock,” and he made some utterly absurd thing. Everybody was taking a crack at this…pushing each other aside and making scribbles.
At some point we left. We were suddenly all tired, and we’d had a little bit too much to drink, and the next morning I came back, and here was this roll [of drafting paper], and Irving and I looked at it, and somewhere in this roll there was a ball clock. I don’t know to this day who cooked it up. I know it wasn’t me. It might have been Irving, but he didn’t think so…We both guessed that Isamu had probably done it because he has a genius for doing two stupid things and making something extraordinary…out of the combination….or it could have been an additive thing, but, anyway, we never knew.”
According to georgenelson.com, many years later Irving Harper claimed that he was the actual designer of the Ball Clock, but since nothing was officially written down on paper, the mystery will always remain.
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| Ball clock, Model #4755, 1964 |
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