Henk Lampe (Nl 1951-Now)

1979. Henk Lampe / lacquered plywood.

Four chairs (with accompanying table) from the ‘plakhoutserie’ (glued wood series).

Prime examples of an important series of designs by the Dutch artist Henk Lampe from 1979 – Only a hand full of these museum pieces exist. They capture and predict the spirit of the Post-modern/post-structural age of the time and that which proceeded it.
This series of furniture combines the formality of modernism with a more playful formal language and striking playful use of colour. The series was never taken into mass production, so all pieces are build by the designer himself, making them museum quality pieces.

The Dutch title ‘plakhoutserie’ means a series of furniture built from glued slabs of geometric shaped plywood. The series extended to a variety of functional furniture from small stools to larger tables, each constructed of standardised component parts.

We have 4 chairs and the original table available but to accommodate collectors they can be sold in separate parts if required.
Very good original condition. Light honest traces of use. Original paint. Labels to the underside of some parts.

Price: 10.000 euro (set of four chairs & table)

http://www.merzbaufurniture.com

Isokon No.1 Stool

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:-

  • Kermik, Juri (2004) The Luther factory: Plywood and furniture 1877-1940
  • Daybelge & Englund, (2019); Isokon and the Bauhaus in Britain
  • Pritchard, Jack (1984); View from a Long Chair: The Memoirs of Jack Pritchard

Price: 3.650 euro

http://www.merzbaufurniture.com

x2 Artifort Stick chairs

Bruno Ninaber van Eyben (NL. 1950-now)

Artifort. 1970s. Plywood.

The model 020 ‘Stick’ chair was designed by Dutch industrial designer Bruno Ninaber van Eyben in 1977.

The design is made up of three constituent parts that fit together: two pieces of angled plywood and a length of stick with a round profile. The stick in the middle connects the plywood pieces and functions as the backbone and strength of the chair.

These rare chairs were manufactured in very limited numbers due to the production costs and difficulties. Only 150 of these chairs were produced. Apart from its low production numbers the other reason that so few exist is because they can easily get damaged – Due to the stool’s fragility we recommend that it should be purchased by a design lover that appreciates its sculptural qualities rather than its functionality!

The plywood has been refinished.

Price: 3.950 euro (per piece)

http://www.merzbaufurniture.com