Mid2Mod: Thonet

Showing posts with label Thonet. Show all posts

Monday, January 16, 2012

You look so familiar: Part 5 - Wings

Wings...from the subtle to the sublime, they make perfect ergonomic sense. They make perfect design sense too, because chairs in this style are considered some of the most lovely ever produced.

The previous installment of this series on the topic of shell chairs included a 1957 crossover piece by Hans Olsen that had small wing-style arms, but the design element appeared much earlier than that. Eero Saarinen and Charles Eames designed their Organic Chair in the late 1940s, and Eames capitalized on the design later with his DAX chair, which will be included in yet another category.

Harry Bertoia's svelte Bird Chair made subtle use of the feature, while Robin Day's spectacular Royal Festival Hall chair took modern seating to the brink of flight.

Charles Eames and Eero Saarinen Organic chair - 1940
loc.gov

Eero Saarinen Womb chair - 1948
treadwaygallery.com

Jupp Ernst chair by Helmut Lortz - 1950s
grainedit.com

Thonet - 1950s
1stdibs.com

Robin Day Royal Festival Hall chair - 1951
theargus.co.uk

Harry Bertoia Bird chair - 1952
knoll.com

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

You look so familiar: Part 2 - Molded Plywood

Michael Thonet patented his bent wood furniture process in 1841 and experimented with plywood in the 1880s. During World War I, the aviation industry found ways to make plywood more flexible and durable, and in the years following the war, modernist designers found that plywood offered a solution to their search for a material that could be inexpensively mass produced.

In 1927 Gerrit Thomas Rietveld, a Dutch cabinetmaker, made a seat from a single piece of plywood. Then, in the early 1930s, Alvar Aalto produced plywood stacking stools and the Paimio chair, which had a one-piece plywood seat and back in a plywood frame. In 1936 Marcel Breuer created a molded plywood dining table.

By the early 1940s, young American designers such as Eero Saarinen, Charles Eames and Isamu Noguchi and a young British designer name Gerald Summers began to work in molded plywood. In 1946 the MoMA asked Eames to stage his first one-man show, and the highlight of the event was the DCW (dining chair wood) and the DCM (dining chair metal). This was the same year Ilmari Tapiovaara designed his stacking chair. By 1958 the Cherner chair had streamlined seat, post and back into one piece while keeping the tapered legs typical of the other chairs.

Plywood fell out of vogue during the 1960s and 1970s, but it was reintroduced by British designer Jasper Morrison in the 1980s. His 2009 BAC is a perfect example of combining design elements of two or more dissimilar styles. The BAC is a plywood chair with a center back post that manages to look very much like the chairs with tall legs and wraparound arms that were the subject of my initial post in this series. To me it could be the offspring of Wegner's The Chair and the Eames DCW. It definitely blurs the lines between the two categories.

From modernfurnitureclassics.com

The Molded Plywood Chair with the Single Post Back

Ilmari Tapiovaara - 1946
chictip.com

Eames DCW - 1946
moma.org

Thonet - 1950s
nyshowplace.com

Norman Cherner, 1958
1stdibs.com

Jasper Morrison's BAC
hivemodern.com

Sunday, May 29, 2011

Daybeds

The SIL has an opportunity to pick up a beautiful daybed for the store, and he asked for my opinion. I'm probably biased, because as a child growing up in a solidly middle-class family where you just had plain ol' beds that you had to make up before the school bus came, the idea of a daybed conjured up images of rich, glamorous women lolling about and eating bonbons. So, of course, I cast my vote for him to get it.

Naturally, my fascination with daybeds doesn't mean that one would sell in the store...unless others of you out there share my feelings about them. If you found an absolutely gorgeous daybed, would you have room for it in your house? Would you make room? I would, but don't let me influence you in any way.

While you're making up your mind, take a look at these gorgeous things.

Barcelona by Mies van der Rohe...probably the best-known MCM daybed
allmodern.com

Bruno Mathsson daybed
1stdibs.com

Edward Wormley daybed
1stdibs.com

Eileen Gray daybed
designicons.co.uk

Hans Wegner daybed
treadwaygallery.com

Jens Risom daybed
polyvore.com

Peter Hvidt daybed
1stdibs.com

Thonet daybed
1stdibs.com

Update 6/1/11:

architonic.com

I included this image in my original post and incorrectly identified it as a Paul McCobb piece. Thanks to Jonathan Goldstein, whom I consider the ultimate authority on Paul McCobb design, I now know that the daybed was designed by Clifford Pascoe for Modernmasters. To learn more about this common misconception, take a look at a very well researched post on Jonathan's blog Planner, Perimeter, Predictor, Paul McCobb.

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Embracing the wabi-sabi aesthetic

To restore or not to restore? That is the question lovers of mid-century modern design must answer often. We've debated this issue at great length and now tend to buy items for our homes and for the store that do not need major restoration. This is not to say that our pieces are flawless. Very few items survive sixty years without blemish. However, while some mid-century pieces have heavy wear that renders them almost unusable, others have only minor imperfections which tell a story about the previous owners who gently and lovingly used them. This sort of patina makes items all the more beautiful and needs no correction.

Wabi-sabi is a Japanese term fo an aesthetic that recognizes the transitory nature of life and the impossibility of perfection. It is sometimes described as a concept of beauty that is imperfect. Characteristics of wabi-sabi include simplicity, asymmetry and roughness or irregularity, especially that caused by time or use.

Mid-century designers espoused simple design and functionality. The spare designs of Charles and Ray Eames, Isamu Noguchi and George Nakashima embodied the simplicity of wabi-sabi and celebrated the beauty in everyday things. It stands to reason that they would have expected their pieces to show wear and signs of age after decades of use.

Mid-century experts today warn against unnecessary restoration. Richard Wright, director of the Wright auction house, gave an example in an interview with Troy Segal of a restoration that reduced the value of a rare Eames piece from $15,000 to $5,000. He says, "A real warning sign is if a piece is too band-box fresh, too gleaming. It should look a little worn, show its age--that's desirable."

From ratioblog.com, about.com and motherearthnews.com

The stark simplicity of the Eames home
motherearthnews.com

The imperfect shapes of Noguchi's Akari lighting
vitra.com

The natural irregularities of a Nakashima table
lostcityarts.com

A beautifully aged Hans Wegner high back lounge chair
1stdibs.com

Thonet chairs in unrestored condition
oneofakindantiques.com

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Thonet...Yes, you heard me. I said TAWN-at.

Thonet is considered a pioneer of furniture design throughout the world. The company was established in 1819 by Michael Thonet to produce his own designs. In 1830 he began to experiment with bending steamed wood to create furniture, and by 1855 Gebruder Thonet received a patent for the bentwood process. Within a short period of time, the company became a major furniture manufacturer with a global distribution network.

In the 1930's a major expansion took place with the addition of tubular steel furniture from famous Bauhaus designers such as Mart Stam, Marcel Breuer and Mies van der Rohe. In the 1950s, designers such as Jindrich Halabala, Eero Saarinen and Joe Atkinson designed pieces for the company.

Today, in addition to manufacturing many of the tubular steel and bentwood classics, Thonet continues to introduce products by renowned contemporary architects and designers. The family enterprise is managed by the fifth generation of Thonets: Claus, Peter and Philipp. Corporate headquarters and the production facility is in Frankenberg, Germany.

An interesting aside: In researching this post, I found that I, along with many other people, have been mistaking the German name for French and, as a result, have been mispronouncing the name of the company. As a follow-up to a thread on Apartment Therapy, a reader named Harley emailed the Thonet company and received a response from family member Anke Thonet, who said the correct pronunciation rhymes with LAWN-at and has a silent h, giving the beginning and ending t a hard sound. So tonight I’ll stand in front of the mirror before I go to bed repeating “TAWN-at, TAWN-at, TAWN-at” till I break the habit of saying "Tho-NAY." (I’d like you to think I’m so suave and sophisticated that I never mispronounce a designer’s name, but, alas, that’s not the case. Why doesn’t someone compile a pronunciation guide???)

From thonet.de, stylenorth.ca and apartmenttherapy.com