Furniture Design

[e-RICHIE]

love this
thank you

We got this (which is amazing that my vegetarian wife ordered it with this cover. It does come in fabrics...and other animal things). It is the most comfortable thing I have ever reclined in. It is highly adjustable. I found it at a store in British Columbia for 1000 less than Design Within Reach priced it at. (I will admit I overspent at DWR on other stuff simply because they sponsor @e-RICHIE's team and I like that). It is the Corbusier LC-4. Oh, that little table is one of the ones from Craft Associates that I mentioned above.

LC-4 by Jon Mandel, on Flickr

[j44ke]

My current faves:

DePadova - We ordered a sofa and some armless chairs from here. Perfect Italian. Home | De Padova

Cassina - Pure class. Cassina: Italian Designer Furniture and Luxury Interior Design

De La Espada - Excellent furniture builders. Makes Ilse Crawford’s “Settle” series of tables, high backed benches, beds, etc. Products

Zeitrum - Handmade wooden furniture from Germany. Beautiful. Look at the Turntable Oval table. Huge and beautiful. Ships in its own container because it is one piece (though made out of many pieces.) High quality furniture solid wood - Zeitraum


If you come ton NYC and want to look at furniture, there are plenty of places to go. Here are a few smaller designer businesses that carry some unique as well as classic stuff:

SUITE NY | Designer Furniture and Home Accessories

https://www.citenyc.com/

http://www.fair-design.com/

https://www.thefutureperfect.com/

[David Tollefson]

We got this (which is amazing that my vegetarian wife ordered it with this cover. It does come in fabrics...and other animal things). It is the most comfortable thing I have ever reclined in. It is highly adjustable. I found it at a store in British Columbia for 1000 less than Design Within Reach priced it at. (I will admit I overspent at DWR on other stuff simply because they sponsor @e-RICHIE's team and I like that). It is the Corbusier LC-4. Oh, that little table is one of the ones from Craft Associates that I mentioned above.

LC-4 by Jon Mandel, on Flickr

I've sat in similar designs. Well, "sat" is a total misnomer. More like "melted into". Add headphones and a dark room... Instant sensory deprivation chamber. Without getting wet.

[j44ke]

We have a reproduction of this chair made by our friend Janek as a project a while ago. He was restoring old mid-century Czech designs and obtaining the reproduction licenses to the more unique designs from remaining members of the original designer's families (sometimes not easy to do obviously.) This one was designed by Adolf Loos, a Czech-Austrian designer who was instrumental in bringing Functionalism to Austria and the Czech Republic (known then as Czechoslovakia of course.) It is known as the Knieschwimmer Chair - literally "Knee Swimming".



That chair was produced starting in the early 1900's in numerous slight variations. The one in the photograph is from 1920's. When you sit in it, your head is in the perfect position to read a newspaper held by your arms resting on the armrests (aha!) at the elbows.

Loos is a very interesting designer, and some of his geometric reduction of late Austro-Hungarian styles, populated on the interior by a mix of traditional and more modern bent chrome and wood chairs and tables influenced Le Courbusier, who, along with his cousin Pierre Jeanneret and designer Charlotte Perriand, formed a firm that designed the LC4 Chaise Lounge above.

Here's Charlotte Perriand showing how it is done:

[bbattle]

Mid Century furniture is pretty popular these days but you can often find great deals at "antique" or "junk" shops. My wife and I have bought a lot of stuff used and had it reupholstered. So that hideous sofa with the psychedelic floral pattern may have great bones but nobody will buy it can now by your steal of a deal. Good quality furniture can be easily repaired so don't pass by something because the dowel pin connecting an arm is broken; drill it out and put in a new one. Finishes can be sanded down and redone to your liking.

Estate sales, yard sales, etc. can be great places to buy but you have to be persistant and patient. And an early riser. most yard sales begin at sunrise. :-)

My wife bought me a new Stressless recliner for $$$$. Six months later she snags a used one, very similar design but different color leather, for $200.

Happy Hunting!

[10speedcognition]

I work for DWR and we have a new minimalist recliner coming out in the new year from Atlason Studios here in NYC. Can't say more but it's really a stunner and unlike your stodgy old gramps recliner of old. We also currently have the Vala, which is quite a good looking piece as well. Can't go wrong with the Baughman though. Timeless.

[caleb]

I got a note from my Chair that while I was out canoeing she'd put a package on my desk. She explained that when she'd opened my office door it was blocked by a couple of jackets and a robe that had fallen down when my 3M hooks let loose. I suspect the temp + humidity led to their end.

I thought about calling our facilities guys to see if they had some sort of closet they could bring over, but felt bad potentially putting an unexpected line item in someone's budget at the end of the fiscal year.

Before going to Ikea to grab something functional, I took a look on Craig's List. I found a guy a few miles away with a nice looking wardrobe. The backstory was that his wife has friends in the antique industry, and the seller and his wife accumulated more than their house could hold. They now have a second child on the way and need space. His wife told him to get rid of the big wardrobe to make room. He asked her for details about it so that he could sell it, and said that without them he was going to put it on Craig's List for fifty bucks.

I gave him fifty dollars and he helped me load it in my Subaru.



Not exactly a match for cheap carpet and Steelcase furniture, but fun and functional anyway.



My office door still just barely closes. I might still need to do some rearranging.



The only identifying marks I could find were two signatures on the back in pencil. I'm guessing they may very well be the names of previous owners, but do they by chance mean anything to anyone here?

[j44ke]

Can't read the signatures, but I think you are right. They look like they were done using a carpenter's pencil - those flat wide pencils with a rectangular lead. Makes a nice calligrapher's pencil sharpened to a broad point as evidence by the line variation in the signatures.

But if you can decipher the spelling of the names, do a search online. People get pretty obsessive about old furniture and certain builders. Something might pop up.

That back on the second photo looks like it has some hand hewn work to taper the edges so it fits into the slots in the sides. And then definitely don't use wood like that for the backs of wardrobes these days.

Also if the interior doesn't have a clothes rod, modern hangers are too big for the depth of most old wardrobes. So instead of hanging everything side to side, you usually have to go back to front, like you've done. Careful on screw length if you mount anything inside so you don't pop out the veneer. The piece has a nice unrestored surface to it. I wouldn't mess with that. At most, a little beeswax just to protect any areas where the old varnish/shellac has worn thin.

Drawer has an interesting cut out. Might have been for some sort of locking/latching mechanism for keeping the drawer shut.

[lumpy]

Caleb, that's good stuff.

[caleb]

Thanks for the feedback, @j44ke. I pulled it out from the wall to look at the signatures again, and the best I can tell is that one is a name and the other might be an address. Looking around the internet, it sounds like apprentices often signed their work when they first struck out on their own and didn't yet have labels or stamps.

I pulled out the drawer looking for markings (no luck), and noticed the joinery.





The top is joined to the sides similarly.

I'm a bit surprised that the hand cut dovetails may indicate that it's pre-1860. Not much in Minnesota is pre-1860.

From some quick reading, it sounds like the pine body points to American manufacture, rather than English or European.

[j44ke]

Thanks for the feedback, @j44ke. I pulled it out from the wall to look at the signatures again, and the best I can tell is that one is a name and the other might be an address. Looking around the internet, it sounds like apprentices often signed their work when they first struck out on their own and didn't yet have labels or stamps.

I pulled out the drawer looking for markings (no luck), and noticed the joinery.





The top is joined to the sides similarly.

I'm a bit surprised that the hand cut dovetails may indicate that it's pre-1860. Not much in Minnesota is pre-1860.

From some quick reading, it sounds like the pine body points to American manufacture, rather than English or European.

Still has the pencil lines! Those are great. Definitely handmade!

[j44ke]

Minnesota became a state in 1858, so perhaps this was brought from elsewhere to Minnesota as part of a migration to the new state. Historically I think there have been population booms after a territory is declared a state. Someone brought grandma's wardrobe along for the ride.