furniture, art & design
Haagse School / Art Deco settle / bench 1930s
Oak frame with drop-in seat and upholstered back. 103 x 59.3 x 102.6cm high.
A neat little bench in the Dutch art deco / Haagse School style. The upholstery is showing its age – It would benefit greatly from a complete re-upholstery (which we have taken into account when pricing it).
Price: 1.600 euro
Frank Gehry (Canada 1929-2025)
Frank Gehry “Easy Edges” wiggle chair by Vitra. Labeled underneath and in a very nice original condition. This example is a 1999 production.
The chair was designed in 1972 as part of Gehry’s famous Easy Edges series. It was reissued by Vitra from 1992 as the Wiggle side chair. Created by the renowned architect Frank Gehry this extraordinary chair challenges the conventional notions of form, material and structural dynamic. Crafted from layers of corrugated cardboard, the Wiggle Chair exhibits a delicate balance between strength and flexibility. Gehry’s signature aesthetic make it a standout piece in any space. The chair has a slight twist/lean from use but it has a good warm tone (…that recent production chairs do not have)
Price: 1.700 euro
Pierre Paulin (1927-2009)
Artifort F444 lounge chair.
Iconic F444 lounge chair designed by Pierre Paulin in the 1960s taken into production by Artifort. Made out of a robust steel frame paired with an elegant leather slung seat. This chair is not only visually striking but also very comfortable. Purchased from its first owner (that rarely sat in it!), this example is still in superb original condition. One of the best examples of this chair we ever had.
Price: 3.850 euro
Pair of Dutch circa 1940s cherry and oak wood benches with superb all original patina.
186.5cm wide x 33.5cm deep x 48cm high
A pair of simple and attractive benches. Oak boards on cherry wood X-frame legs. The thin oak and peg constructed base gives these benches an elegant modernist appeal. The best aspect of these benches is their warm period patina – It shows just the perfect degree of age and use. They are stable and ready for use. (We also have a matching table – available)
Price: 1.700 euro (pair)
Piet Klaarhamer (Nl 1874-1954)
Oak side chair with green leatherette upholstery. Circa 1917.
The early designs of modernist architect Piet Klaarhamer use simple, rudimentary constructions, and demonstrate an honest use of the materials used.
This important chair was the first piece of furniture that Klaarhamer designed in 1917 with manufacture in mind – However it was ultimately manufactured in very limited numbers by company called NV Nederlandse Meubel en Houtwarenfabriek in Zaandam.
Klaarhamer’s designs had a clear influence on his students, including the well-known architects Piet Elling and Gerrit Rietveld.
The design of this particular model (without arms) inspired Rietveld in the design of his well known ‘Military Chair’ in 1923. It is a design that is well documented in the monograph on Klaarhamer written by author/historians Marijke Kuper & Monique Teunissen*. This book details a letter (with a sketch of the chair) by Gerrit Rietveld to the architect J.J.P Oud.
Price: 2,400 euro. Condition report available.
http://www.merzbaufurniture.com
*Literature: Piet Klaarhamer Architect en Meubelontwerper. Marijke Kuper & Monique Teunissen, nai010. 2014
Ko Verzuu (Netherlands 1901-1971)
A rare toy chair designed by Ko Verzuu for ADO. Circa 1930s.
plywood 19 x 20 x 20.5cm high (with original cushion). Early brandished mark to the underside (with an early understandable misattribution to Rietveld)
Between 1925 and 1955 Dutch designer Ko Verzuu designed many toys under the influence of the Dutch Modernist De Stijl painters. His designs were inextricably bound up with innovations in art, health care and pedagogy in the first half of the 20th century. In 1920, the sanatorium Berg en Bosch was founded in the sanctuary on the outskirts of Apeldoorn. This sanatorium offered rest and care to tuberculosis patients. Once patients had recovered from their illness, returning to regular working life often proved to be difficult. In order to prepare patients better for their reintegration, the sanatorium developed a modern treatment: occupational therapy. One of the ways this took shape was in the production of wooden toys. These toys were given the name ADO; an abbreviation that initially stood for Arbeid door Onvolwaardigen (Labour by the Deficient), but was wisely changed to Apart Doelmatig Onverwoestbaar (Special Functional Indestructible) in 1962.
Price: 1.100 euro
Gae Aulenti (Italy 1927-2012)
Set of 4 ‘Locus Solus’ chairs for Poltronova, Italy 1960s
55.5 x 54 x 66.5cm high
enamelled black tubular metal frames with perforated seats. This set comes with their original loose waxed cotton cushions with dotted black on grey pattern. The design of these chairs was intended to be a playful take on the classic bentwood design.
Price: 4.200 euro (set of 4)
Enzo Mari (Italy 1932-2020)
Autoprogettazione Chair ‘Sedia 1’, after a design by Enzo Mari, 1990s.
Pine wood and nails. 50 x 52.5 x 85cm high (seat 47cm high)
In 1974, the Italian designer Enzo Mari published 19 furniture designs that one could make by oneself in his book ‘Autoprogettazione?’. With this programm he created a counter proposal to the paradigm of mass consumption, an alternative to formalism and opening a path to the democratisation of design.
This chair was made by a skilled carpenter according to the original ideas Enzo Mari in the 1990s and has since gained a desirable warm patina.
Nice original condition. Some small scratches and stains commensurate with age.
Price: 1.100 euro
[merzbau] 