furniture, art & design
20th century design
Root wood /free-form low chair. Circa 1970s.
86.5 x 73 x 41cm high
A unique solid wood low seat (unknown type of wood). Possibly carved from the root or the trunk of a tree.
It has a very attractive, untouched time worn patina. The seat would look good in any modern interior as it is, or with a cushion inside.
Price: 1.880 euro
Venesta plywood table/stool for Isokon. 1930s
Plywood No.1 table/stool with its accompanying circular tray. Manufactured by Luterma. Both stool and tray are stamped/labelled Venesta.
The British furniture entrepreneur Jack Pritchard managed Venesta the import company for Luterma in England who later formed the Isokon furniture company which most notably employed Marcel Breuer. These tables/stools were distributed in England post 1933 until 1939 exclusively by Isokon alongside designs by Marcel Breuer and Egon Riss.
Although the designer of the stool remains anonymous, in 2004 the art historian Alastair Grieve described a modification of the original Luterma stool (of which this stool is one) when he wrote that the original design was subsequently re-designed by the architect and founder of the Bauhaus Walter Gropius (hired as a consultant to Isokon). The very slight alterations Gropius made was to include sharper curves to the cut-out squares of the stool. Gropius’s drawings for the redesign can reportedly be found in the collection of the V&A Museum, London.
The separate tray placed on top of the stool is unusual and rare in that it is much thinner than all other trays we have seen. This has led to some minor warping over time (which may have been why it was produced later with a thicker rim?) The thinner rimmed tray may suggest that this was an early production or at the least a more limited production?
h.46.5cm x w.44cm x d.44cm
Literature:-
Price: 3.650 euro
Henry Rosengren Hansen (Denmark c20th)
Brande Møbelindustri, Denmark, 1960
A very rare long teak sideboard with sliding doors designed by one of the best of Danish designers for one of the top Danish companies. The beauty with these sideboards is both the simplicity and modesty of design combined with the highest quality of finish visible especially in the details. It has easy sliding doors and a variety of shelves and drawers inside that can be easily adjusted to the required height.
Price: 4.800 euro
Martin Visser (Nl. 1922-2009)
The bumper table is undoubtedly Martin Visser’s most intriguing design, the baroque translation from 1965 of his table base tz06 from the early 1960s. The development of Martin Visser’s bumper table provides insight into and understanding of his design processes: The table’s main feature is its reversible tripod base, later called ‘Abusir’ – Seemingly simple with the three points on the floor and three points to carry the top (in the history of furniture the tripod table is known to be the most stable structure).
Only two series were produced in very limited numbers due to the technical difficulties of manufacturing the base. Spectrum Furniture (‘t Spectrum) manufactured the table as several versions that varied in height, width, materials and finishes – this version with the white carrara marble top.
Price: 15,000 euro
Brutalist / Structuralist chair. Netherlands. Circa 1960s/70s.
Steel & leather/hide.
An interesting architectural chair. Its construction and manufacture lead us to believe that it is possibly a prototype? – Its design reflects the style of post-war structuralist architecture/interiors typical of several Rotterdam architects from the period. (we are still researching the design).
Price: 4,400 euro
Jean Nouvel (Fr. 1945- now)
‘Less’ Table. Molteni / France. 1990s
Steel plate. 190 x 90 x 72.5 cm high
A rare first steel edition of the ‘Less’ table by Jean Nouvel (later editions were in aluminium and lighter). The table was originally designed for Foundation Cartier office in Paris.
The top has a distinctive sunken underside, not seen when viewed from above – the result is the illusion of a wafer thin top supported by four thin legs.
Original lacquered surface in anthracite metallic grey/silver colour. In good condition – some minor scratches. The legs can be unscrewed from the top.
Price: 2,750 euro
Paolozzi elephant
Sir Eduardo Paolozzi KBE, RA (Uk 1924-2005)
Acrylic resin / linoleum. 1970s.
Cubist elephant advertising box. Acrylic resin / linoleum. Circa 1970s.
The Scottish graphic designer and sculptor Eduardo Paolozzi was commissioned by the linoleum company Nairn Floors to promote their products to architects and designers in the 1970s. Of the 3000 made, a limited number have survived and are coveted by collectors. Examples can be found in New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Victoria & Albert Museum etc.
The top of the elephant is a lid that can be removed to reveal an inner compartment containing a selection of pamphlets/ brochures. One of the brochures details the design process from conception to the production stage of the elephant itself.
It has the artists impressed signature and is marked as number 630 from an edition of 3000. It has a presentation card with an indistinct signature (R/D?.Day) as well as all the pamphlets that were supplied with the box (One of the pamphlets has suffered some water damage that has resulted in all the pages sticking together unfortunately but the rest are all still intact) As often happens with these, the elephant’s trunk has been glued back on at some point during its lifetime.
39 x 14 x 29cm high
Price: 1,590 euro
Philippe Starck (Fr. 1949-now)
Rare ‘easylight’ Electrorama, Circa 1980.
Floor-neon lamp. Designed around 1977, the edition was for Starck Product or Electrorama circa 1980. Stamped ‘Starck Product’.
Makrolon, polyurethane and fluorescent tube H: 142 cm. (56 inches); D: 6,7cm.(2 3/8in.). The lamp has an inbuilt mercury tilt switch (the lamp lights up when its position is slightly altered)
This lamp was most likely purchased in the Netherlands at De Bijenkorf, circa 1980. Bibliography: J.-F. Grunfeld, M.-L. Jousset, Lumières Je Pense à Vous, exhibition catalog, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, June 3-August 5, 1985, p. 158, n. 282 C. Colin, Starck, Ed Pierre Mardaga, Liège, 1988, p. 274, 278, 296
Price: 5.800 euro
[merzbau] 