Oct
11
2010
Le Corbusier (1887-1965), whose true name is Charles-Édouard Jeanneret-Gris, was a Swiss-born, French architect, creator, urban planner, and writer. He established the modern design in the 20th century. Together with his contemporaries Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Walter Gropius, Le Corbusier is recognized as an outstanding leader of the Modern movement and assisted to establish the modernism as the dominant style in both architecture and furniture design in the early to mid-20th times.
As an architect, Le Corbusier was very productive. With a career that encompassed the first half of the 20th century, he designed buildings and free-standing structures around the world from Europe to the Far East. His architectural designs were explicit of the International design, a more stylistic branch of contemporary design which gave emphasis on balance and volume too as the lack of ornament. He is also credited for helping establish Purism, a form of Cubist art, and the Modulor system in architectural measurements. Some of the buildings he designed, such as the Villa Savoye in France and the National Museum of Western Art in Japan, can still be seen now.
In addition to his creation in architecture, Le Corbusier also designed furniture for use in the interiors of the buildings he designed. In 1928, Le Corbusier began in partnership with his cousin Pierre Jeanneret and interior stylist Charlotte Perriand that resulted with several tubular steel furniture items. These works were later expanded into the now-standard Le Corbusier furniture set, and exhibited at the Salon d’ Automne or Autumn Salon exhibition in 1929 at Paris under the Equipment for the Home installation. Today most if not all of the creations featured at the Salon, including the tubular steel LC1 Sling Chair and the LC4 Chaise Lounge, are obtainable as reproduction pieces from various manufacturers.
Sep
08
2010
Respected as one of the famous furniture designers of the 20th century, the Finnish designer Eero Aarnio has gave a name for himself making peculiar designs for home furnishings using innovative new materials. And one of the greatest examples of his works is the Bubble Chair. Highly admired during the 60’s, the Bubble Chair outdo common thoughts about chair figure and continues to motivate modern inventors to this day.
As its term entails, the Ball Chair is a chair formed like a massive ball. The chair’s empty, spherical body is finished from light fiberglass polymer, a substance which is both light and enduring. The inner recesses of the Bubble Chair is furnished with two silver or brightly-colored fabric cushions, whereas a metal ring is located on the border for added support. And unlike most usual chair designs, the Bubble is perched from the ceiling by means of a solid steel chain.
Eero Aarnio intended the Ball Chair in 1963 and was at first meant for private use in his home. Aarnio required to develop the Ball Chair’s design to introduce lighting in its interior. This idea later grew into a totally new design consisting of a transparent sphere that let light to go from all corners. Because acrylic resin was the only substance both transparent and resilient enough for the work, Aarnio had one intense and blown into extent and built-in with the metal ring and upholstery.
Because it was founded upon the Ball Chair, the Bubble Chair contributes to with the alleged label “room within a room” effect in which the holder feels a sense of calm and separation while inside the chair. This occurrence is established moderately on the thick dome of the chair, which “swallows” or dampens any near sound.
At present, the Adelta furniture group of Dinslaken, Germany is the certified manufacturer of the Bubble Chair,.
Sep
07
2010
Born Kathleen Eileen Moray Gray on August 1878 in Brownswood nearby Enniscorthy, west Ireland, Eileen Gray is a designer, architect and polish artist who pioneered the Modern design movement in the 20th century. Like her colleagues Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Le Corbusier, Gray’s designs for architecture and furnishings were among the earliest models of modern design and are recognized to be among the best of our period.
The youngest daughter of the well-to-do Scottish-Irish Gray family, Eileen Gray focused the well-regarded Slade School of Fine Art in Bloomsbury, London in 1898., but transferred then after to the Ecole Colarossi and the Academie Julian in Paris when her father died in 1900. Gray in time returned to London in 1905, where during a visit to the Soho district she became rapt with lacquer-work. She eventually studied lacquerwork under the tutelage of Seizo Sugawara, a Japanese lacquer artist working for the Exposition Universelle in Paris. After which in 1913, Gray finished her very first exposition presenting several of her attractive panels all through the Salon des Artistes Décorateurs.
Eileen Gray started her career as a lacquer artist before branching out into furniture design and architecture. The structures she made were identified for their long and narrow interior spaces and numerous stages for storage and viewing decks, a nod to her affection to ship architecture. In addition, Gray would also often design furnishings with the express purpose of placing them inside the inner part of the buildings she created and decorated. Some distinguished furniture designworks she made include the Bibendum Chair, the Biboquet Table, and the E-1027 Table Lamp.
Regardless of of her accomplishments, Gray’s profession went downhill after World War II when her houses and most of her belongings in France were destroyed by the retreating German Army. Eileen Gray resided in France for the remainder of her life, eventually regaining most of her status in the public eye after being featured highly in design magazines. Shortly after a victorious auction of her work was established, Gray died in October 1976 in Rue Bonaparte, France.
Aug
04
2010
In 1925 the Swiss-French architect Le Corbusier wrote a book called L’Art décoratif d’aujourd’hui. In it Le Corbusier identified furniture as a “human-limb object”, wherein it was modified to the several functions of the human body and was subtle at doing so. Le Corbusier would later bring his thoughts to life in 1928 when he done some experimental figures for furniture. One of these was the Le Corbusier Sofa LC2.
Also recognized purely as the LC2 Sofa, the Le Corbusier Sofa LC2 is a two to three-person capacity sofa comprising of an external steel frame and free black cushions. The sofa was made by Le Corbusier in partnership with French interior designer Charlotte Perriand, and is built on the pattern of the LC2 “Petite Lounge” Armchair.
The exterior steel frame of the Le Corbusier Sofa LC2 is created from industrial grade tubular steel, and is layered with a chrome, black matte, or lustrous enamel finish. The cushions for now are packed with polyurethane or ecological down feathers and enclosed with high quality black leather. Later reproductions of the LC2 Sofa also includes cushions wrapped with stain strong fabric.
The Le Corbusier Sofa LC2 distributes comparison with another Le Corbusier sofa works, which is the two-seater Le Corbusier Sofa LC3. The sofa also holds excellence for being one of some of Le Corbusier’s works that were exhibitedt at the Salon d’ Automne presentation at Paris, France in 1929.
The Le Corbusier Sofa LC2 was first produced by the Thonet furniture company in the 1930s and afterwards by the Swiss company Embru. In 1964, the designer furniture company Cassina of Italy was honored with the rights to replicate the LC2 Sofa, and remains its leading manufacturer to this day. But, because of its recognition and association with the celebrated architect reproductions of the Le Corbusier Sofa LC2 by other producers have also propagated in the market.
Jul
27
2010
In 1925, the Swiss-born French architect and designer Le Corbusier finished in his book, the Contemporary Arts of Today, that modern furniture should be parallel to that of a human body. This “human-limb object” furniture, as Le Corbusier described it at the time, must amend to the several functions of the human body while being discreet in doing so. Le Corbusier would then put his ideas into action when he collaborated with French interior designer Charlotte Perriand on numerous tubular steel furniture creations. Together with these designs is the LC1 Sling chair.
Of all the chair styles Le Corbusier made in his vocation, the Le Corbusier No. 1 or the LC1 “Sling” chair would perhaps be his most legendary. Also known as the Basculant Chair, the Sling Chair is a slender tubular steel chair based on the style of the British officer’s chair. The chair chiefly made up of a skeletal welded tubular steel frame, over which a leather or ponyskin seat and backrest are fitted on tightly. Frames on early models of the LC1 were basically polished steel, even if they were progressively changed with chrome-plated steel. In addition, the Sling Chair also features a pair of matching leather arm rests which look like belts covered around the sides of the frame.
In addition to its inconspicuous look, the LC1 Sling Chair is also made with comfort in mind. The back of the chair, for example, features a adjustable steel rod which allows the chair to tilt whenever its occupant modifies his or her sitting position. This allows the Sling Chair to anticipate the movements of its occupant and keep him or her comfortable at all times. What’s more, the chair’s unique arm rest style allowed the arms to rest comfortably without restricting their natural movement.
The LC1 was among Le Corbusier’s designs that were featured at the prominent Salon d’ Automne in 1929. The chair also obtain prestige for being included in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York.