Organic Designers

                                                    

                                                               Alvar Aalto

Alvar Aalto is known to be one of the pillars of twentieth-century architecture and design. he began a series of experimentation with laminated wood around the mid-1920s. In succeeding years he used this discoveries to create chairs for a sanatorium in Paimio. The Paimio chair was revolutionary for its day. It it characterised with a combination of a bentwood frame and an S-shape seat. The design of this piece was influenced by Marcel Breuers tabular steel Wassily chair, however Aalto used a reintroduction of wood as a design medium. 

The 42 armchair, (one on the left) was followed by the 43 cantilever chaise longue (one on the right).

The 42 armchair reminds me of the Mies van der Rohe’s cantilever chair. I think the design of this chair influenced the 42 armchair, in its curvature and principle. 

                          

                                                       Charles and Ray Eames

Charles and Ray Eames were not only successful photographers, film makers and architects but they were also furniture designers, and they were very good at that. Over a period of 40 years, they designed a multitude of furnishings ranging from; compact shelf systems, folding sofas and stackable chairs. Charles’s first moulded-plywood chair was designed for the museum of Modern Art’s Organic design in Home Furnishings competition in 1940.  The LCW  which stands for Lounge Chair Wood, is an example of the shift away from the angular Bauhaus style  and towards a functionalism that was combined by more organic elements.

                                                               Arne Jacobsen

Arne Jacobsen first achieved international recognition in the early 1950s with his design for the Søholm development of terraced houses in Klampenborg. The project represented a Modernist style, and it was regarded as typically Scandinavian. at this time he was also working on a chair which was made of plywood, a material he was experienced with. His Ant chair was a stroke of genius. the design behind tis concept clearly rejects the principles behind Danish furniture. This was furthermore, one of the  first chairs that was suitable for mass production. the chair is made of only who parties: the seat and the legs and an additional connection element. Its simplicity and the minimal use of materials made it extremely economical. Over five million Ant chairs have been sold since production started in the early 1950s. 

'Egg'

'Pot'

In 1950s Jacobson established his largest project which was the SAS Royal Hotel in Copenhagen. He was in charge of the whole design: from the building itself to sofas and bathroom taps. The most popular designs of that period were his curved armchairs: Egg, Swan, Drop and Pot. 

Knud Holscher once said that Jacobsen ‘designed chairs in the same way that Matisse painted his pictures- in a free, playful manner’. 

                                                  

                                                    Charles Rennie Mackintosh

Willow Chair

Argyle Chair

The work of Mackintosh made an important collaboration to British design in the twentieth century. The group ‘Glasgow Four’ was successful in creating a modern design style that is recognised instantly and is today widely known as being way ahead of its time in Britain. Mackintosh represents of a period that produced many outstanding designers among them Frank Lloyd Wright and Josef Hoffmann with whom he was in close contact. The conventional architect created a load of work that although it came from Art Nouveau, displayed graphic differences.  His high-backed chair, with its proportions that are known for their extremity, is particularly popular. The Argyle chair exhibits the same stylistic features. This chair had floral decor which is typical of Art Nouveau, but works which occurred later on, were  influenced by geometry. This is shown in the Willow Chair resting on a box rather than on legs.

Bibliography:

Bernard Polster, Claudia Neumann, Markus Schuler  and Fredrick Leven, 2004. The AZ of Modern design