Affordable Modern Furniture

Smoking Table, Eileen Gray, circa 19229

2008-10-26T14:52:00.001-07:00

By 1929, Eileen Gray becaome involved in total planning, creating buildings and all the furnishings for them. Although some of her work was solidly Art Deco, she also designed in the International Style like her friend Le Corbusier. This sleek little table was designed by Gray with Jean Badovici for a house called E-1027 at Roqueburne. The tubular steel or brass stem on one side allows the table to be used as a bed tray for breakfast; the height of the glass top is adjustable. The small chain and the broker-circle base add visual interest.

Armchair - Jean Michel Frank, 1930

2008-10-14T19:36:00.000-07:00

Jean Michel Frank, 1895 - 1941

Between 1932 and 1940 Jean Michel Franck completely reinvented the vocabulary of decorative arts. Working in Paris, New York and South America, Franck was inspired by Neoclassicism and by the abstraction of primitive arts, creating in the 30ies an original style, whose elegance made him gain the approval of rich clients. His name became the classic reference for 19th Century furniture collectors. The decorative principles he developed are the foundations of a minimal style that still nowadays is in fashion and continues to inspire contemporary designers.

This armchair was constructed in solid wood structure, stuffed with foam with a layer of feathers in the upper part of the seat. Covering was traditionally leather.

MR Lounges, 1931 - Ludwig Mies van der Rohe

2008-09-23T13:53:00.000-07:00

MR Lounges were designed by Ludewig Mies van der Rohe in 1931 after the Bauhaus style from Germany. The frames of these lounges are similar to the MR Chair frame-made of tubular steel sections doweled and screwed together. The cantilevered seat is supported by leather or rubber straps; the upholstery is padded and quilted in sections. The frames of these chairs are deeper and the seats more angles than on the MR Chair-increasing the comfort of the sitter. These chairs were manufactured first in Germany and then reissued by Knoll International. Mies left Germany in 1938 to join the faculty of the Armour Institute (later known as the Illinois Institute of Technology) in Chicago, where he remained until he retired in 1958.

Affordable Modern Furniture

2008-09-15T12:21:00.000-07:00

Be transported through the evolving world of classic modern furniture design. International in scope and style.

Color Wheel basics to create your own palette

2008-09-06T14:55:00.000-07:00

The color wheel portrays the relationship among the three primary colors of red, blue and yellow. The three secondary colors that result from mixing tow primary colors are purple, green and orange. Tertiary colors are derived by mixing a primary with a secondary color, which simply brings a greater focus of one primary color over the other.

There is an entire vocabulary associated with the color wheel, but rather than go through that, here's what you really want to focus on... Related or analogous color schemes usually combine three neighboring colors from the color wheel. These schemes can be warm or cool, since the colors are adjacent on the color wheel and therefore usually share these attributes. Complementary color schemes use two colors opposite each other on the color wheel. These schemes are bold and often intriguing. They can be difficult to pull off because the contrasts are bold and placing them side by side makes them seem more intense, but they can be effective if done properly. Mixing complementary colors tends to relax the eye because the colors move toward gray. This is often seen with traditional modern color schemes. Triadic schemes are based on three colors equally spaced around the color wheel, such as red, yellow and blue. These can be the most sophisticated, since the relationships among the colors are the most abstract. Experiment with intensity and values in a triadic color scheme for the best results. A red, yellow and blue scheme with all colors of the same intensity might seem too bright, but deep red and navy blue with pale yellow or deep gold used as an accent might work fine.

Kangaroo Chair by George Nelson - 1956

2008-09-05T12:22:00.000-07:00

Although less innovative in form than other designs by Nelson Associates such as the Coconut chair, the Kangaroo chair was perhaps more functional. Relatively light in weight, the Kangaroo chair, like Eames' Lounge chair of the same year, alluded to traditional English club chairs with the buttoning of its cushion.

George Nelson (1908-1986) was an important modernist whose work cut across the fields of interior, industrial and exhibition design. Nelson studied architecture at Yale University in the 1920s, and in the next two decades earned a strong reputation as a writer on design for Architectural Forum, Interiors and Fortune. In 1945 Nelson began a long association with the Herman Miller Furniture Company where as head designer he developed an innovative line of furniture and commissioned new designs from others. His first commission was Isamu Noguchi's biomorphic glass-topped coffee table, which began production in 1947, the first of many designs that the sculptor would create for Herman Miller in the late Forties. Nelson also was responsible for bringing the designs of Charles Eames to Herman Miller, and he collaborated with R. Buckminster Fuller on a number of projects. Among Nelson's own creations are classic works of Fifties design, including the bubble lamp, ball clock, marshmallow sofa and the pole-supported wall-storage system. Nelson also designed numerous exhibitions, including the 1959 American National Exhibition in Moscow, and the Chrysler Corporation display at the 1964 New York World's Fair.

EA105 Aluminum Group side chair, Chares Eames, 1958.

2008-09-02T11:46:00.000-07:00

The chairs in the Aluminium Group are the most famous creations by Charles and Ray Eames. Designed in 1958 they rate amongst the great achievements in the design history of the 20th century. An important characteristic of the Aluminium Chair is the intelligent combination of materials. It has a clear, transparent form and its construction is clearly visible. Aluminium sections lend the chair both stability and lightness. The material is fixed into the side sections, yet fitted loosely so that it follows the line of the body and is comfortable without requiring extensive upholstery. This material is not a cover but an integral part of the design.

Known during its development as the Leisure Group or Indoor-Outdoor Group, the Aluminum Group currently comprises of high-back, tilt-swivel lounge chair, a low and high-back, tilt swivel desk chair with an adjustable seat and a low-back side chair (all with or without arms) as well as an ottoman, a coffee table and a dining table available with a variety of tops. Originally intended for domestic retail, the group was eventually marketed for contract use.

Antroups Chair - 1949

2008-08-31T11:47:00.000-07:00

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

2008-08-29T17:46:00.000-07:00

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

2008-08-28T09:50:00.000-07:00

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)

2008-08-27T16:12:00.000-07:00

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

2008-08-09T10:25:00.000-07:00

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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History of Modern Furniture

2008-06-12T14:07:00.000-07:00

Prior to the modernist design movement, emphasis on furniture was more on ornamentation and craftsmanship. During the first half of the 19th Century a new philosophy emerged shifting the emphasis to function and accessibility. The modern movement sought newness, originality, and technical innovation through the use of new materials and manufacturing methods (i.e., steel, molded plywood, plastics, etc.).

Classic Modern
With the new interest in innovative materials and methods, a blending of the disciplines of technology and art emerged. Chronologically the design movement that produced classic modern furniture design began earlier than one might imagine. Many of its most recognizable furniture pieces were born at the end of the 19th or the very beginning of the 20th centuries. The 1939 New York World's Fair helped plunge modern furniture into the limelight by pairing new furniture with "homes of tomorrow". The innovative designs created a believe that didn't need to be designed just for an artsy few, but could be accessible to everyone.

In the Finnish pavilion, people went wild for the bent plywood arm chairs of Alvar Aalto, including the first ever chair with a continuous, one-piece curved plywood back and seat.

Mid-Century Modern
Soon, WWII hit and it was wartime. The furniture industry was hit hard, and in Europe, it completely died. Fortunately, the Museum of Modern Art in New York created an Organic Design in Home Furnishings competition to find new talent. Out of that contest came Carles Eames and Eero Saarinen. Out of their work we entered the mid-century modern style.

Interesting, mid-century modern materials were not known for being organic. The war brought us new methods of molding and laminating plywood, molding plastics, and using aluminum. Later, Fiberglass, cast aluminum, acrylics, polyester resins, and foam rubber was introduced to furniture. Furniture moved from being "crafted" to "manufactured".

Contemporary ModernContemporary modern design reflects designs that are being created today. Generally it evolves around the principles of reducing clutter in order to provide a free forum for enjoying space, line, form, light, color, and texture. This genre of minimalist, trend conscious and refined furniture is regarded as “Contemporary”, recognizing that a variety of other styles are also being created in today's market.

While some interchange the use of the term "modern" and "contemporary", modern represents the modern furniture designs from the early to mid twentieth century. Because it's often difficult to discern the difference between a modern piece designed in the 30's and one designed in today's contemporary market, or there is simply no educational background to be able to make the distinction, the term modern and contemporary end up being used interchangeably.

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