oul Kjaerholm (1929-1980) is the creator of the famous PK22 chair, that elegant minimal structure of steel and leather which we see so often in all those beautiful interiors circulating on the net. This chair, created in 1956, was the big breakthrough for Kjaerholm. Its design won the Grand Prix at the Milan Triennale in 1957 which brought him instant fame. But there is so much more to Kjaerholm’s work.
oday I am sharing my latest computer-generated visualisation project: a Mid Century interior in a classic city apartment. Some of the furniture is vintage, some of it is new (but inspired on Mid Century design) and some of the pieces I designed myself, such as the dining table and the Sputnik Chandelier.
t has been a while since my last post. I have been very busy with my “real” job, making computer-generated visualisations for interior design projects. I thought it would be fun to post some of the latest results of an Amsterdam townhouse here today. It is a design for a typical Amsterdam-Zuid townhouse. These houses were built around 1900 and are usually about 15 metres deep by 6 metres wide.
he history of the famous Thonet chairs, begins with Michael Thonet, pronounced “Toe-net” (instead of “Tho-nay”). He was the founder of a building- and furniture workshop in Boppard, Germany in 1819. His unique success story began with the transition of manual furniture production to industrial production.
rchitect and Design Icon Gio Ponti, born just before the turn of the 20th century, always sought the perfect balance between the ornate past and the modern ideal in his work. His style is easily recognised by the hommage it pays to the classical, while simultaneously looking forward to the next innovations in technology and design. Like so many other Design Icons, Ponti was not only an architect, but also a writer, teacher and designer.
he Butterfly chair, who hasn’t seen this chair around somewhere? It is one of those well designed classics from way back when also known as the Hardoy chair, the Safari chair, the Sling chair or the Wing chair. Actually, the design is so clever and simple, that unauthorised copies are swarming all over the place.
e have all seen the famous Le Corbusier tubular steel Chaise Longue LC4 in one interior or another, or the Grand Confort, a cube-shaped armchair whose leather cushions are held in a chrome-plated steel corset. Most of us also know that these pieces of furniture bear the name of Le Corbusier. But few of us know that these pieces were actually the brainchild of Charlotte Perriand, the 24-year old French modernist designer who was hired by Le Corbusier immediately after he saw her furniture creations of steel and aluminium which she designed for the Salon d’Automne in 1927.
Mies with a model of his masterpiece, the Crown Hall on the campus of the Illinois Institute of Architecture in Chicago, USA
udwig Mies van der Rohe, “Mies” as he was commonly referred to, would have been 128 years old today. He was born as Ludwig Mies in Aachen, Germany in 1886 but moved to the USA in 1937. He was one of the pioneering masters of modern architecture, along with Le Corbusier, Alvar Aalto and Frank Lloyd Wright.
ave you seen those elegant black or white insect-like light fixtures by Serge Mouille? I got intrigued after seeing them appear in numerous interior blogs and did some research. These lamps, which are the epitome of mid-century lighting design, were first launched in Paris in 1953. Serge Mouille’s lighting collection fast became the lighting choice for collectors and avant-garde architects worldwide.
esss, I’m back again. It’s been a while but “things were busy at the office” as they say. Although hectic times are here to stay for a while, I am not going to give up on my little Design Icons series. So today I want to talk about Warren Platner. The first time I saw one of his iconic steel wire chairs was in an interior designed by Kelly Wearstler and they blew my mind.
