Antroups Chair - 1949

Marco Zanuso was commissioned by the Pirelli Company in 1948 to investigate the potential of foam rubber as a material suitable for upholstery. The Antropus chair is an early design, incorporating this novel form of upholstery which did not require traditional springing; the form of the chair was made possible only through the use of this new material. Arflex, a division of the Pirelli Company, produced Marco Zanuso's innovative furniture. Still in production, the Antropus chair possesses a sophisticated, undulating line that is characteristic of many postwar Italian furniture designs.

Classic Chair - Hans Wegner, 1949

Originally named the Round chair because of its shape, it soon became referred to as the Classic or sometimes The Chair. Designed early in Wegner's career, the Classic chair illustrates that craftsmanship and modern design can operate in harmony. It was constructed almost entirely by hand and ran counter the modernist tenets of mass production. As is the case with many of Wegner's designs, the proportions of the Classic chair derive from careful anatomical study of the human form. Most of his handcrafted furniture was produced by Johannes Hansen of Denmark, while the production pieces were manufactured by another Danish company, Fritz Hansen.

Eames Birch LCW Chair, 1945

Birch-veneered moulded plywood seat and back, attached with rubber shock mounts to a frame of bend birch plywood. Out of earlier experimentation, which was carried out in collaboration with Eero Saarinen and Ray Eames, Charles Eames produces the LCW (Lounge Chair Wood). After exhibiting the chair at the Musemum of Modern Art in New York, the California-based firm Evans Products Company manufactured it from 1946 to 1949, after which time Herman Miller took over the chair's manufacture from 1949 to 1957. A diving version was also produced (DCW), as were two versions with metal legs (LCM and DCM). A variety of finishes was available, which included leather, slunk-skin or fabric upholstery and weed veneers, as well as aniline-dyed variations in black, red or yellow. The LCW and the other chairs of the Moulded Plywood series were highly suited to mass production: they were manufactured in component form with the fewest possible parts using a minimum of materials.

Womb Chair (1947 - 1948)

Designed by Eero Saarinen (1910 - 1961) and manufactured by Knoll International, USA.

Molded of fiberglass seat shell and loose seat cusions upholstered in fabric-covered latex foam, supported on chromium-plated or enamelled tubular steel frame, with nylon swivel glides.

Eero Saarinen collaborated with Charles Eames on several organic chair designs for the Museum of Modern Art's Organic Design in Home Furnishings' competition. They won joint first place in tow categories with seat furniture that attempted to harmonize form, function and materials. In this search for aesthetically pleasing, unified design, they revolutionized traditional concepts of chair design. Although they managed to consolidation of seat, back and arms in a single moulded plywood shell, Saarinen still considered the legs a problem in visual terms.

The Womb chair, or No. 70, of 1947, first produced by Knoll in 1948, represents Saarinen's pursuance of an organically inspired design in synthetic materials. Like Eames, on of his prime concerns with with human anatomy and its relationship to furniture. The Womb chair perfectly illustrates the intentions of Saarinen and Eames: to create chairs that accommodate people according to the way they actually sit, not the way they ought to sit.

After the No. 70 chair appeared in the Norman Rockwell drawing that was featured in The New Yorker magazine, it became known as the Womb chair; its construction was intended to encourage the sitter to curl up into a foetal position and it is considered by many to be one of the most comfortable chairs ever made.

Materials of the 50's; Plastic

When you think 50's, you automatically picture plastics....everything from squeeze ketchup bottles to plastic dinner plates. Maybe cutting edge from a scientific point of view, but hardly in design terms. You may be thinking plastic equals tacky and vulgar, hardly elements for stylish home today. Not so. If you look around, even the most current designs have plastics incorporated.

If you want to give your home a 50's look, incorporate some plastic. The trick is to decide which route you wish to follow. Colorful kitsch is the easiest and cheapest to achieve by scouting around hardware shops and discount stores. Look for crazily colored kitchenware, canary yellow is the preferred shade for washing-up bowls, with sky-blue trashcans and shocking pink scrubbing brushes for contract. Add melamine tableware, inflatable egg cups, and a PVC tablecloth, and suddenly your home is a brighter, cheerier place.

If, on the other hand, no color is more your color,stick to acrylics and polypropylene accessories in subtle colors and frosted finishes. Polypropylene seems to be the plastic of the millennium and is used by manufacturers everywhere for furniture and housewares. It can also be bought by the sheet from good art shops and bent, folded, or riveted fairly easily into a variety of products, such as lights, storage, and desk accessories. Acrylic is most commonly seen around the home as cutlery handles, clip-top storage jars and clear picture frames, the latter often simply fastened at each corner with metal prongs. All these items can give a "soft, modern" look to a home and look great when combined with classic 50's furniture and home-wares. So for an authentic retro look, pile on the plastic.

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