[1]Paul McCobb (June 5, 1917 – March 10, 1969), like a few other famous American designers, did not start out creating furniture. He desired the life of an artist and studied drawing and painting at the Vesper George School of Art in Boston, Massachusetts. Although in actuality art and design intimately embrace, art schools rarely…Continue reading Paul McCobb
Category: Furniture
Section devoted to modern furniture.
5 Tips to Add Mid Century Modern Style
So you live in an Arts and Crafts style home or a traditional Victorian? Not everyone who prefers modern over anything else can choose the house that one lives in. Some houses are easier than others to remodel into a MCM style. The ranch house that dominates the Southwestern area of the country comes to…Continue reading 5 Tips to Add Mid Century Modern Style
Chairs: A Designers Joy!
Chairs From a Personal View The love affair of modernist designers with the chair provides an abundance of choices to admire. Howard Bosler A WARNING The following article makes no attempt at an objective look at the chair design by modernists. This is simply a list of some chairs that I admire. I will attempt…Continue reading Chairs: A Designers Joy!
William Haines: Hooray for Hollywood?
William (Billy) Haines started out as an actor in the early days of Hollywood and starred in quite a few films, both silent and sound. His career in film lasted from 1922 through 1936 and he quit acting in 1935. Known for a relationship he had with another man, Jimmy Shields, the stories vary as…Continue reading William Haines: Hooray for Hollywood?
Bar Table and Cube Chair
I’m getting closer to finishing converting my furniture designs that I have made and use in my house from drawings to digital, 3D models. Even though I have beds, bedside tables, chests of drawers, desks and side tables, many of these fit the definition of minimalist, and therefore, hardly need the transition. For instance, a…Continue reading Bar Table and Cube Chair
Modern Furniture Design: My House
The following furniture designs were created and built for my house: Digital Design Documentation Having drawn out many modern furniture designs by using the old tools of the architect, the t-square, triangles and ruler, some of the designs I have come up with need placing among the cloud. I no longer use the old tools…Continue reading Modern Furniture Design: My House
Ephemeral Design
I am usually spending my evenings doing something productive, but occasionally I do enjoy a good documentary or a video on art or design. Last night I watched “Ellen’s Design Challenge” on HGTV. Although I have a degree in fine art, design is a large part of any artistic endeavor and is quite fulfilling in…Continue reading Ephemeral Design
Poul Henningsen and Let There Be Light
Poul Henningsen, known to the Danes as just PH, was born in Ordrup, Denmark in 1894 and lived until 1967. He was the son of an author, Anne Henningsen and a satirist, Carl Ewald and was around literary and artistic intellectuals growing up. He trained as an architect, though he never graduated, but thought himself…Continue reading Poul Henningsen and Let There Be Light
MCA – Exhibitions: Pop Art Design
via MCA – Exhibitions: Pop Art Design. An exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago (Dec. 19 – March 27) purports to display the influences on modern design by Pop Art. With objects from the Vitra Design Museum in Germany, “…Charles Eames, George Nelson, Ettore Sottsass, Achille Castiglioni, and Robert Venturi were just…Continue reading MCA – Exhibitions: Pop Art Design
Hairpin Leg, at 75, Is Now a Modern Classic | Woodworking Network
via Hairpin Leg, at 75, Is Now a Modern Classic | Woodworking Network. I really admire a nice set of legs! Hairpin legs are an easy and admirable way to add some mid-century to your style. They work for tables of all kinds, but work for seating as well. Check out Etsy for some reasonably…Continue reading Hairpin Leg, at 75, Is Now a Modern Classic | Woodworking Network
Mid-Century Modern’s New Gold Standard | Houstonia
via Mid-Century Modern’s New Gold Standard | Houstonia. Here is a link to Knoll, which is celebrating the 50th anniversary of their Platner Collection. Some really groovy designs came from the imagination of Warren Platner. Below are some examples of his work. Warren Platner
Lesser Known Designers: Augusto Bozzi
Augusto Bozzi was an Italian designer who created works for the firm of Saporiti. Except for the following images, I know nothing else of this designer. However, his designs are prolific and easily obtainable. The following is a quote from the Saporiti website. “The ’50s. The reconstruction. The ‘Mayor’ chair. The Saporiti of this period…Continue reading Lesser Known Designers: Augusto Bozzi
Lesser Known Designers (Part 3): Vladimir Kagan
Vladimir Kagan was born in Germany in 1927, but emigrated to the US with his parents in 1938 as the result of the rise of fascism in that country. He started out with an interest in painting and sculpting, then went to the School of Industrial Art where he graduated in architecture in 1946. He…Continue reading Lesser Known Designers (Part 3): Vladimir Kagan
Lesser Known Designers (Part 2)
The Australian designer, Grant Featherston (1922-95) is unusual in that he was self-taught, with a wide range of experience in design. Inventive and unique, his constructions are without the theoretical baggage that many academically trained designers many times carry. Like another famous design couple, Grant’s wife Mary completed a dynamic duo that finished a wide…Continue reading Lesser Known Designers (Part 2)
Lesser Known Designers (Part 1)
Sven Ivar Dysthe is a Norwegian designer especially known for the 1001 Armchair from 1959. His designs are firmly in the trend of Scandinavian furniture designs, mainly wood and fabric, sleek and mainly rectilinear. Many of his designs fulfill a commercial function in that they are expandable to sofas or quite amenable to use in…Continue reading Lesser Known Designers (Part 1)
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