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See more of Jones' odes to Mid-Century architecture at his site here.
And you can visit The Stahl House...more information can be found here.
Happy designing!
Showing posts with label mid-century. Show all posts
Showing posts with label mid-century. Show all posts
Monday, July 29, 2024
Famous Homes In Art: The Stahl House by Laurence Jones
Since this is "Famous Homes" month (we just took a look at the amazing Habitat 67 last time), I thought I would share some art by Laurence Jones who is clearly enamored--and rightly so--with the Mid-Century Modern masterpiece that is known as The Stahl House. I posted about the history of The Stahl House in an installation of Famous Homes here. And Jones wonderfully captures the angular beauty of the clean lines and stunning view of Los Angeles glittering below.
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See more of Jones' odes to Mid-Century architecture at his site here.
And you can visit The Stahl House...more information can be found here.
Happy designing!
See more of Jones' odes to Mid-Century architecture at his site here.
And you can visit The Stahl House...more information can be found here.
Happy designing!
Monday, April 24, 2023
Know Your Chairs: The Womb Chair
For this installation of Know Your Chairs, let's look at another classic of Mid-Century Modern design: the Womb Chair. Created in 1946 by Finnish-American designer and architect Eero Saarinen (previously here), around the same time he was working on designs for the gateway Arch in St. Louis, he was approached by Florence Knoll who challenged him to make a new kind of chair: "I told Eero I was sick and tired of the one-dimensional lounge chair...long and narrow...I want a chair I can sit in sideways or any other way I want to sit in it...a chair that was like a basket of pillows...something I could really curl up in."
Saarinen set about reinventing the concept of a chair so that it was not comfortable from all the cushioning or padding, but from the actual shape of the chair itself. Wrapping foam around a fiberglass shell and setting it all on a set of splayed steel legs, the organic, welcoming Womb Chair was born. Speaking to the chair's name, Saarinen said, "It was designed on the theory that a great number of people have never really felt comfortable and secure since they left the womb. The chair is an attempt to rectify this maladjustment in our civilization. There seemed to be a need for a large and really comfortable chair to take the place of the old overstuffed chair. Today, more than ever before, we need to relax."
This classic of modernist design is still available from the original manufacturer and license holder, Knoll.
Happy designing!
Saarinen set about reinventing the concept of a chair so that it was not comfortable from all the cushioning or padding, but from the actual shape of the chair itself. Wrapping foam around a fiberglass shell and setting it all on a set of splayed steel legs, the organic, welcoming Womb Chair was born. Speaking to the chair's name, Saarinen said, "It was designed on the theory that a great number of people have never really felt comfortable and secure since they left the womb. The chair is an attempt to rectify this maladjustment in our civilization. There seemed to be a need for a large and really comfortable chair to take the place of the old overstuffed chair. Today, more than ever before, we need to relax."
This classic of modernist design is still available from the original manufacturer and license holder, Knoll.
Happy designing!
Monday, April 2, 2018
Know Your Chairs: The Egg™ Chair
If you're not totally egged-out from yesterday's Easter egg hunt and, if you're anything like me, devouring the last of the Cadbury chocolate eggs, let's take a look at another kind of egg for this installation of Know your Chairs.
Designed by Danish architect and designer Arne Jacobsen for Fritz Hansen, the Egg™ Chair is an iconic piece of mid-century design.
Inspired by the bent plywood designs of Charles and Ray Eames, Jacobsen created this marvel in 1958 for the Radisson SAS Royal Copenhagen Hotel in Denmark when it opened in 1960.
Here we see the Egg™ Chair in the lobby of the SAS Hotel and Arne Jacobsen with a pair of chairs also at the hotel. The curved contours of the chair--like those of its namesake, an actual egg--served to soften the hard angularity of the modernist hotel itself, a contrast that is a hallmark of mid-century design.
Yes, the Egg™ Chair is modern, but because of the dynamic of pairing opposites (see my Design Mantra #1 to the right, "Contrast brings interest!"), the Egg™ can fit nicely with other periods and styles.
The chair is still manufactured today by Fritz Hansen using the same exacting techniques: 1200 hand-sewn stitches go into the making of each Egg™. The photo below from their website obviously contains a typo since the company was founded in 1872, not 1972!
Happy designing!
Designed by Danish architect and designer Arne Jacobsen for Fritz Hansen, the Egg™ Chair is an iconic piece of mid-century design.
Inspired by the bent plywood designs of Charles and Ray Eames, Jacobsen created this marvel in 1958 for the Radisson SAS Royal Copenhagen Hotel in Denmark when it opened in 1960.
Here we see the Egg™ Chair in the lobby of the SAS Hotel and Arne Jacobsen with a pair of chairs also at the hotel. The curved contours of the chair--like those of its namesake, an actual egg--served to soften the hard angularity of the modernist hotel itself, a contrast that is a hallmark of mid-century design.
Yes, the Egg™ Chair is modern, but because of the dynamic of pairing opposites (see my Design Mantra #1 to the right, "Contrast brings interest!"), the Egg™ can fit nicely with other periods and styles.
The chair is still manufactured today by Fritz Hansen using the same exacting techniques: 1200 hand-sewn stitches go into the making of each Egg™. The photo below from their website obviously contains a typo since the company was founded in 1872, not 1972!
Happy designing!
Monday, July 10, 2017
Know Your Sofas: The Serpentine Sofa
Yes, it's time once again for another installment of "Know Your Sofas" and this time we are looking at the classic yet thoroughly modern Serpentine Sofa designed by Vladimir Kagan.
Here is an image of an original Serpentine Sofa from 1950, the year it was introduced. You can clearly see how the sofa relates to the freeform/kidney and boomerang shapes that were popular in the 1940s/1950s, and a bit into the 1960s.
Even though it was created within the Mid-Century Modern milieu, this sofa transcends the style of that era in a way that very few other Mid-Century Modern pieces do. It fell out of favor for a few decades, but, as styles swing like a pendulum, there has been a huge, renewed interest in the Kagan Serpentine Sofa, as evidenced by the stunning, beautiful, and quite modern applications used by some top interior designers. The sinuous and sensuous shape pairs well with elements as disparate as 1970s furnishings or Baroque antiques!
If you would like a Vladimir Kagan Serpentine Sofa of your very own, it is available through showrooms open to interior designers. Give me a call!
Happy designing!
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| Vladimir Kagan in his 100A Barrel Chair, circa 1950s |
Here is an image of an original Serpentine Sofa from 1950, the year it was introduced. You can clearly see how the sofa relates to the freeform/kidney and boomerang shapes that were popular in the 1940s/1950s, and a bit into the 1960s.
Even though it was created within the Mid-Century Modern milieu, this sofa transcends the style of that era in a way that very few other Mid-Century Modern pieces do. It fell out of favor for a few decades, but, as styles swing like a pendulum, there has been a huge, renewed interest in the Kagan Serpentine Sofa, as evidenced by the stunning, beautiful, and quite modern applications used by some top interior designers. The sinuous and sensuous shape pairs well with elements as disparate as 1970s furnishings or Baroque antiques!
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| Serpentine Sofa in a room designed by Jean-Louis Deniot |
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| Serpentine Sofa in a room designed by Julie Hillman |
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| Serpentine Sofa in the Parisian apartment of designer Klavs Rosenfalck |
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| Serpentine Sofa in a room designed by Robert Couturier |
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| Serpentine Sofas in a room designed by Martyn Lawrence Bullard for Tommy Hilfiger's Miami home |
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| Serpentine Sofas in a room designed by Francis D'Haene |
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| Serpentine Sofas in a room designed by Ingrao, Inc. |
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| Serpentine Sofa in the apartment of Amanda and Clayton Benchley |
If you would like a Vladimir Kagan Serpentine Sofa of your very own, it is available through showrooms open to interior designers. Give me a call!
Happy designing!
Monday, June 26, 2017
History of Furniture: Hans Wegner
Hans Wegner was one of a few select designers who ushered in the era of Danish Modern interiors, now generally referred to as Mid-Century Modern. Starting as a cabinet maker's apprentice, he eventually worked for Arne Jacobsen, another legend in Danish Modern design. But he started his own company and created over 500 chairs in his lifetime with 100 of them seeing actual production.
Arguably his most famous design is the "The Chair" (or The Round One as Wegner himself referred to it), summing up the idea of Danish Modern design in one elegant silhouette.
Available today from PP Møbler, The Chair comes with either an upholstered or cane seat.
The Chair was even the chosen seating for the candidates to sit in at the first-ever televised 1961 Kennedy/Nixon debate.
His Wishbone chair is a study in restraint.
The three-legged CH07 Shell chair is so light, made of bent plywood, that it even has wings...it is also sometimes called The Smiling Chair for obvious reasons. Today it is available from Design Within Reach in different wood finishes and fabrics and leathers...even hair on hide!
The Wegner Papa Bear Chair looks like a teddy bear with paws up, waiting to embrace anyone who sits in his lap. Again, Danish furniture manufacturer PP Møbler still has this in production.
Perhaps his most unique creation is another anthropomorphic object, the Ox Chair. Based upon drawings of oxen and bulls by Picasso, it sports a set of large horns!
Happy designing!
Arguably his most famous design is the "The Chair" (or The Round One as Wegner himself referred to it), summing up the idea of Danish Modern design in one elegant silhouette.
Available today from PP Møbler, The Chair comes with either an upholstered or cane seat.
The Chair was even the chosen seating for the candidates to sit in at the first-ever televised 1961 Kennedy/Nixon debate.
His Wishbone chair is a study in restraint.
The three-legged CH07 Shell chair is so light, made of bent plywood, that it even has wings...it is also sometimes called The Smiling Chair for obvious reasons. Today it is available from Design Within Reach in different wood finishes and fabrics and leathers...even hair on hide!
The Wegner Papa Bear Chair looks like a teddy bear with paws up, waiting to embrace anyone who sits in his lap. Again, Danish furniture manufacturer PP Møbler still has this in production.
Perhaps his most unique creation is another anthropomorphic object, the Ox Chair. Based upon drawings of oxen and bulls by Picasso, it sports a set of large horns!
Happy designing!
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