Furniture Art | Mettler Art Chairs » History

Classic Art Chairs | The Barcelona

admin — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 19:56:40 +0000

The Barcelona chair was designed in 1929 for the German Pavilion at the American Exposition in Barcelona Spain, by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe the father of modern architecture. An icon of modernism an furniture art the chair design was inspired by the campaign and folding chairs of ancient times.

The chair was shown off perfectly in the German Pavilion setting, it is said that Royal visitors did not actually take advantage of this newly designed seating accommodations, but the chair quickly attained the reputation of being ” a design worthy of Kings”.

The frame was initially designed to be bolted together, but was redesigned in 1950 using stainless steel which allowed the frame to be formed in one seamless casting, giving it a more smoother appearance. Bovine leather replaced the ivory colored pigskin which was used for the original chair.

The Barcelona chair was manufactured in the USA by Knoll since 1953. The chair is a classic design an still sales very well world wide. This classic accent chair remains time less in its design and function.

By Chuck Mettler
Furniture Artist, Fan of Art Chairs, Lover of the Barcelona

Frank Lloyd Wright and Furniture Art | Chairs

admin — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 06:10:38 +0000

I admire Frank Lloyd Wright’s architecture, and the look of his art chairs, and notice the variation and extreme creativity. Many are comfortable except for the very straight-backed ones which are unsittable, as far as I’m concerned. Beautiful furniture, but hardly functional. Take a look:

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Art Chair | Eames Chair Started It

admin — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 22:52:20 +0000

“I really got interested in furniture art when I was a student at the Chicago Art Institute. The idea that something as functional as a chair or sofa could have class, style and even be comfortable, hit me one day as I prowled the design section of the museum. One of the first chairs to catch my eye was the Eames Lounge Chair, first made is 1956 of bent plywood and soft leather. There are three curved plywood shells made of thin veneer, glued togetehr and then bent under heat and pressure. One is for the headrest, one for the seat and the other for the footstool. The original chair used Brazilian rosewood and as the top layer, stained rather darkly and showed wonderful contrast with the black leather.

Eames Chair | Furniture Art

That got me thinking about all kinds of chairs over history, about which more later. Closer to home, I found three chairs in the attic which my grandfather made for his family, probably in the the 20’s in a small town in Iowa. They were roughly made, but solid as a brick, had spoke backs, a curved board on top, and legs angling out a a slight angle, and braced by struts. My grandfather had no education, but he could make anything, and fix things from clocks and watches to a busted telegraph key. His chairs were not furniture art by a darn sight, but comfortable, well made and are still cherished by the family.

As new materials were invented, chairs began to be made out of all kinds of things. Once upon a time the artist was stuck with wood and basic metals, stuffing and material for the seat, and paint. Plywood was new. Bending it was new. Plastic could be molded and shaped into anything. Metals: steel, aluminum, iron, soft plastic, hard plastic, leathers in all colors and from all kinds of animals were now being used.

Savonarola Chair | Furniture Art

Often the trouble with high style furniture is that it is not comfortable. The Eames Chair has both, and that’s why it has been in continuous production since it introduction.
People buy art furniture for all kinds of reasons. High style appeals to the eye and makes a statement. It often is a conversation starter, just as it was back in they day when Savanarola was roaming Italy in the 1500’s.

And strangely, high style, contemporary furniture are can and does fit with other styles of furniture and furnishings.

Yours,
Chuck Mettler
Lover of Art Chairs, Furniture Artist, Fan of Eames and Savonrola

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