I’ve been, and still is a big fan of hand-crafted furniture. I came across this stunning hand-crafted chair made by Grant Sonnex, a former wildlife radio producer with the BBC Natural History Unit. Although I don’t know whether this chair has a name, it’s balanced form, warmth color, rustic texture, and wonderful craftsmanship was stuck in my head almost immediately as soon as I saw it. I see a spirit of great respect towards nature, do you see that too?
After an award-winning BBC career producing and presenting natural history radio, Grant Sonnex gave it all up to train with the renowned furniture designer maker, David Savage, and establish his own fine furniture workshop on the edge of the Cotswold hills.
Grant Sonnex aims to make his furniture from sustainably sourced timber that positively promotes woodland and forest conservation so that the furniture and the forests will be there for the enjoyment of generations to come.
Recently USA, Kalamazoo, MI based Landscape Forms has introduced its striking Metro40 line of city furniture designed by or in cooperation with BMW Group DesignworksUSA. The Benches come in aluminum or aluminum with wood, with or without back. I like them with back better. Curious how they will withstand wear and tear.
Piano Bench Maria Van De Velde by Henry Van De Velde
Piano Bench Maria Van De Velde by Henry Van De Velde
I love the clean lines, the elegance of the back and the architectural form of this Piano Bench.
Learn more about the great architect, designer, and teacher Henry Van De Velde through Henry Van De Velde Foundation.
Like the tea table or occasional table Curt Herrmann, this piano bench dates from 1902. It was verifiable commissioned for the music-room in the flat kept by Karl Ernst Osthaus in the Folkwang Museum he founded in Hagen. Delivered to the drawing-room of the Zeemeeuw House in Scheveningen at almost the same time, these first two exemplars were made at Lösse, Carpenters and Joiners, in Hagen and first by Scheidemantel in Weimar.
Henry van de Velde’s exclusive clientèle viewed itself as a cultural elite and this status consciousness was not least reflected in the commissions given to the Belgian designer. This was a circle in which literary and artistic interests reigned supreme and both classical and modern music were cultivated. Even though van de Velde’s new designs for sculptural concert grand pianos (for Karl Ernst Osthaus and the Weimar Nietzsche Archives) were not so successful, the piano bench was ordered by several clients.
Henry van de Velde together with family – house ‘Hohe Pappeln’, 1912 in Weimar
Helene von Nostitz and Sophie Herrmann, to name two of them, were gifted pianists and so was Maria van de Velde, who before her marriage had wanted to become a concert pianist.
The 1902 piano bench attests particularly eloquently to the artist’s fresh start at Weimar. The fluid ornamental line of the early work he did in Brussels and Berlin has yielded to a dynamic created solely by the tensions of tectonic construction. Van de Velde’s artistic creed, Line is power is echoed eloquently in the harmonious design of this felicitous piece of furniture.
It was made in various natural woods and hardwoods as well as in cream and midnight blue lacquer. Only two have survived: Maria van de Velde’s piano bench (midnight blue lacquer: Ghent Museum for the Applied Arts) and a second of unknown provenance (ebony: private collection in Germany).
Executed in solid beechwood, stained
Dimensions: H: 62 cm, W: 116 cm, D: 47 cm, SH: 47 cm Design: Henry van de Velde Extant exemplar: Ghent Museum for the Applied Arts Manufacturer: ADELTA
The Ro Ro Rocking Chair by Tomoko Azumi of T.N.A. Design Studio for Zilio Aldo & Cy
T.N.A. Design Studio is based in East London and led by Tomoko Azumi.
Tomoko on the Ro Ro Chair and the cooperation with Zilio Aldo & Cy:
It is a rocking chair made from steam bent beech. The front legs and rocking runners share the same curve, and the arm & backrest is formed from a single piece of solid timber.
Zilio Aloo & Cy is located near Udine, centre of Italian chair industry for years, has been supplying good quality wooden parts for Italian big players for more than 70 years. Since the recent shift of manufacturing to Eastern Europe and the far East, this local network of factories has been struggling to survive. I met a young successor of a factory, who is now trying to set up an own brand, then started a project to rescue their fine tradition of wood bending, which is brought to their area when it was a part of Austria.
