Category: chair collection

Moody Series by Hanna Emelie Ernsting

Moody Bag 2011, photo courtesy of dezeen.com

The seating series “Moody” by the designer Hanna Emelie Ernsting follows the idea that “form follows moods” and consists of three pieces: Moody Couch, Moody Nest and Moody Bag.

Moody Couch kkaarrlls (limited edition) 2011

The origin of the concept is the observation that in the modern world people forget to relax and this is where the Moody series comes in, inviting the user to “express feelings and “let go”. This kind of letting go leaves traces, causing the product to change and adjust to the moods of its user by taking various shapes and forms – the product becomes ‘alive’.

Moody Nest 2010

Watch the Moody Nest in action following this link!

 

Articulated Skeleton on a Thonet Bentwood Chair

Portrait of an articulated skeleton on a Thonet bentwood chair
I was just searching the Commons on Flickr and saw this chair photo of ca 1900 from the collection of the Powerhouse Museum. Couldn’t wait till Halloween to share it with you:-)

Via Portrait of an articulated skeleton on a bentwood chair.

The Powerhouse Museum, located in Sidney says:

This collection of glass plate negatives was acquired by the Museum in the 1980s and appears to have been made by a Sydney based photographic studio from around 1880 through to 1920. The images are on both whole and half plate negatives and many of the larger images are of a high quality.

Happy Easter! – Tato Egg Seat by Denis Santachiara

Tato is a pouf or a footrest in an elliptical shape of an egg designed by Denis Santachiara back in 1995.

Since then the Tato collection grew to include other objects created in collaboration with Enrico Baleri: a spherical shaped Tatino, round shaped Tatone for two or more seaters, curved shaped Tato Bean and Tato Bonbon also for two or more seaters and a lens shaped Lunella.

Each object of the collection is made of flexible and ecological CFC-free polyurethane with internal anatomical rigid structure and plastic base.  The removable cover is available in three different types of bi-elastic fabric, each one in a variety of colors.

1st photo via connox.com, 2d – courtesy of cerrutibaleri.com

Witteveen High Chair by Gerrit Rietveld

Rietveld Witteveen Child Chair

I found this photo of the Witteveen High Chair (see also my post Design.nl: Two Dutch Musea Acquire Rietveld Baby Chair) on Dutch Design Double which contains an interview with Ingeborg de Roode, industrial design curator at the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam (City Museum of Modern Art of Amsterdam) at the occasion of 2010 “Dutch Design Double”, two twinned exhibitions in Amsterdam and Utrecht (Centraal Museum), The netherlands each year.

About the Importance of Gerrit Rietveld’s designs in their collection I noted:

Our latest acquisition, a purchase we made in 2008 with the Centraal Museum and the support of different funding bodies: the Witteveen kinderstoel (Witteveen High Chair). The design from 1918 (just before the famous Red and Blue Chair) was a missing link in the Rietveld collection. Previously, we only knew about it from a black-and-white photo because the only existing example had been lost. It had crossed my mind: ‘If we could only find a second example of it…’ It is very clear in this design how Rietveld was, at that time, on some sort of quest. As well as that, I like the small models that Rietveld made of chairs and buildings: all slotting together very simply.

and

Rietveld‘s work forms one of the key elements of our collection. We have many highlights, such as the aforementioned Witteveen High Chair; an early Red and Blue Chair; the prototype of the Zig-Zag Chair; the Birza Chair, which is made from one sheet of fibreboard; the Harrenstein Bedroom; the Aluminium Chair; and the Steltman Chair.

Finally an interesting piece of information about Rietveld’s Aluminum Chairs:

On 22 October, the results of a research into the four known Aluminium chairs by Rietveld will be presented in the Stedelijk Museum. Three chairs belong to public collections, of which one is in the Stedelijk. And the fourth is from a private collection. With the aluminum armchair, Rietveld experimented with material in combination with form (for instance: holes that were meant to provide more sturdiness) and possible methods of production (industrial with the help of fibre board).

Finally: Wall of Designer Chairs at BK City, TU Delft


Chair insiders (should) know that Delft Architecture Faculty (In Dutch Faculteit Bouwkunde, or abbreviated BK for Bouw Kunde) of Delft Technical University (TU Delft) in The Netherlands has a famous collection of designer chairs.

On May 13, 2008 The Delft Architecture Faculty got a lot of egg on its face when its building burnt down. Every newspaper all of a sudden asked whether the chair collection would be lost forever. Luckily that was not the case.

Now the collection has found a permanent exhibition place finally. I’d missed it:

Event: Faculty of Architecture to open permanent exhibition of famous chair collection

05 October 2010 | 16:00 o’clock
location: Faculteit Bouwkunde

Paul Schnabel is to open the new permanent exhibition of TU Delft Faculty of Architecture’s famous chair collection on 5 October. The extensive collection, which is very important from a historical point of view, has now been given a place of honor in the Faculty of Architecture’s new premises in Julianalaan in Delft with financial support from the Sofa Foundation.

Programme opening
16:00 Welcome by Dean Wytze Patijn;
16:10 Sofa’s last trick;
16:20 Opening ceremony conducted by Paul Schnabel;
16:35 Drinks at the exhibition.

But I’ve noticed it via Design.nl.

Kossmann De Jong realized the Wall of Chairs which was facilitated with a grant from the Sofa Foundation.

It seems that the site from the Sofa Foundation Stichting Sofa doesn’t work propely today, but some history can be found at Johannes Niemeijer‘s site. Nowadays the Sofa Foundation seems to be administered by the Prince Bernhard Culture Foundation.

During working days the exhibition is open to the public and without charge. It’s address is

BK City (next to the Library)
Julianalaan 143
Delft.

I might as well pay it a visit soon.