Mid-Century Modernism

The mid-century modern furniture design 1945-1970 brought with it, significant changes as World War II also taught the furniture industry newly available manufacturing techniques. New materials were introduced, such as aluminum casting and plastics and designers found innovative ways of bonding wood.

Designers from Mid-Century Modernism

Arne Jacobsen 1902-1971
Arne Jacobsen was born on February 11, 1902 in Copenhagen, Denmark. His father, Johan Jacobsen, was a wholesale trader in safety pins and snap fasteners. Originally, Jacobsen wanted to be painter, but his father felt that architect was a more sensible choice, and that is how it was. And thus, by the 1930s, Jacobsen had established himself as an architect in Denmark. His greatest achievement of this time was the Bella Vista estate in Copenhagen, but it was only after World War II that he asserted himself as a furniture designer.

It is noteworthy to say however, that at the early age of 23, he received his first international award for furniture design, a silver medal for his modern chair design at the Exposition des Arts Decoratifs et Industriels Modernes in Paris.

Many of Jacobsen's furniture designs have become classic, including the Ant chair from 1952 and the Swan and the Egg which were both designed for the Radisson SAS Hotel. Jacobsen is, however, perhaps best known for the Model 3107 chair of 1955, known also as the "Number 7 Chair" which by the end of the 20th Century has sold over 6 million copies, making it, by some estimates, the most popular chair ever designed.

Carlo Mollino 1905-1973
Carlo Mollino is one of the most colorful figures in the world of architecture and Italian design. In 1930, Carlo Mollino started his career as an architect designing an house in Forte dei Marmi and receiving the G.Pistono prize for architecture. Mollino graduated with a degree in architecture with highest marks in 1931. Between 1936 and 1939, Mollino designed, in collaboration with Vittorio Baudi di Selve, the Società Ippica Torinese building in Torino, considered his masterpiece.

In the 1940s and 50s there was an explosion of design in Milan that established the sleek, fashionable and modern image of Italian furniture. But Carlo Mollino was on the other side of that movement, working from natural and animal shapes, tree branches, animal horns, the curve of the human body, to establish the "streamlined surreal" series of furniture designs. These pieces, evolved from an appreciation for the shapes of Art Nouveau and the architect Antoni Gaudi, were more expressive, and often more sculptural, than those being produced in Milan at the same time. The changes in his style over the years responded to the evolving technology of bending and working with wood.

Several of his most famous pieces were designed for Zanotta in the 1940s and 50s. Among them were his "Ardea" armchair, produced in bright colors, and his creations of plate glass tables, the 1946 "Reale" table for Zanotta and the 1950 "Arabesque" table for the interior of the Singer store in Turin.

He included similar plate glass tables in the "Italian Design of the 1950s" exhibit put together by Kartell's research center, Centrokappa, as well as several chairs in beech wood with subtly bent backrests and pointy, carved legs

Since then, Auction houses have sold some of his pieces at head-spinning prices and it seems that a famous American collector has acquired a good part of "erotic polaroids" made by Mollino during his nocturnal diversions.

Castiglioni Brothers
Achille Castiglioni 1918-2002, Livio Castiglioni 1911-1979
Pier Giacomo Castiglioni 1913-1968
Achille was born on February 16, 1918 in Milan, Italy studied architecture at the Polytechnic University Milan and set up a design office in 1944 with his brothers Livio and Pier Giacomo. The brothers created a style that combines a reverence for everyday objects, provocative wit, and a rationalist approach to function, becoming one of the most important industrial designers of the 20th century.

Trained in architecture, their original designs included everything from vacuum cleaners to table lamps and restaurants, they always favored industrial design and furniture, and eventually designed their first modest door handle and a set of plywood hotel furniture.

The first time a distinctive Casiglioni style emerged was in 1950, with the design of the Leonardo and Bramante trestle tables. Livio stopped working with his brother in 1952, and it was Achille who would eventually gain the most prominence by producing more than 150 products during his career and forged enduring relationships with Italian manufacturers such as Flos in lighting, Zanotta in furniture and Alessi in home products.

Perhaps the high point of their career in lighting design was their lamps which were designed for Italian lighting manufacturer Flos. The 1962 Arco floor lamp was modeled on a streetlight to project the light source eight feet from its heavy marble base and the Toio floor lamp of the same year was inspired by a car reflector. Others included the 'luminator', floor lamp, splügen bräu and black & white hanging lamp, amongst others.

Pier Giacomo’s death in 1968 left Achille to work on his own. In 1969 he began his academic career by completing a doctorate and soon thereafter he held the chair in industrial design at the school of architecture of the Turin Polytechnic. Finally, in 1978, also in Turin, he became professor extraordinary of interior design and eventually was appointed to the Milan Polytechnic in 1981tobecome a full professor of Interior Design, lecturing in interior design and furnishings.

Gio Ponti 1891-1979
Born in 1891 in Milan, Italy, Ponti’s career spanned 60 years and encompassed many design styles, including modern and contemporary furniture. Ponti turned his considerable energy not only to design, but also architecture, painting journalism and teaching.

He spent his childhood in Italy, going on to study architecture and graduating in1921 with a degree in architecture from the Politecnico di Milano. In 1923 instead of practicing as an architect, Ponti becomes artistic director of Richard Ginori, the ceramics manufacturer for which he wins the Grand Prix at the 1925 Paris Expo. In 1936 he begins teaching at the Politecnico di Milano, where he was professor on the permanent staff of the Faculty of Architecture.

He is credited with creating the Linea Italiana, a sophisticated idea of Italian design that was disseminated around the world. Together with Gianni Mazzocchi, they founded the magazine Domus in 1928, a design journal whose influence was unprecedented; it became Europe's most influential architecture and design magazine. Although he resigned as editor of the magazine Domus in 1941 to go on and set up the magazine Stile, he returned to Domus in 1948, and remained the editor there until the end of his life.

Ponti disregarded conventional boundaries and explored a profound analogy between different fields of art and design, ranging from the minor arts and furniture to overarching architectural schemes. He designed murano glassware for Venini, designed his celebrated La Pavoni coffee machine., design sets of La Scala pera house, and even completes the Villa Planchart in Caracas, Venezuela.

In the late 1950s, Ponti’s design became even more ambitious. He had believed that furniture should be integrated into architecture as much as possible, although it was later in his career that he explored this idea to the fullest. It was during this time however, that he presented a desk design for Altamira in New York, proclaiming to be his masterpiece.

Hans Wegner 1914-
Born in Tonder, Denmark, the work of Hans Wegner is representative of the combination of excellent craftsmanship and commitment to contemporary furniture that made mid-century Danish design internationally popular. He is definitely one of the most innovative and prolific of all Danish furniture designers. His work belongs to a minimalist school, but preserves function.

Hans Wegner already working in his childhood as an apprentice to a carpenter. He graduated from the School of Arts and Crafts and the Architectural Academy in Copenhagen. He worked as an assistant to Erik Møller and Arne Jacobsen until 1943, helping on their design for the Århus Town Hall, and adding some of his own furniture.

In 1943 he opened his own office and came out with the Chinese chair which, along with his 1949 “Round" chair would provide the basis for many of his later chairs. He is best known for the round chair, his design of Model No. JH 501. Despite its unassuming appearance, it enjoys a legendary reputation; it inspired countless imitations, but remains the epitome of form meeting function.

Often simply referred to as “The Chair,” many commentators on modern design have described it as the ultimate blend of function and form. Interiors magazine, in America, put the "Round" chair on the cover in 1950 and called it 'the world's most beautiful chair,' catapulting Wegner into international fame and sparking a profitable export market. The chair became so famous, that it even began making high profile appearances like the televised 1961 presidential debates between Nixon and Kennedy.

Hans Wegner designed many other beautifully and cleverly designed chairs using the finest of craftsmanship, like the Peacock Chair (1947), Wishbone Chair (1949), Flag Halyard Chair (1950), Valet Chair (1953), Hoop Chair (1985) and the Papa Bear Chair (1951). Throughout his long career, he has designed furniture extensively for Johannes Hansen and Fritz Hansen. The Royal Society of Arts, London made him an Honorary Royal Designers for Industry in 1959. He also received other major honors, such as the Prince Eugen medal in Sweden and the Danish Eckersberg medal, the Lunning prize in 1951 and the Grand Prix of the Milan Triennale in the same year. His furniture is part of all major design museum collections in the world: The Museum of Modern Art in N.Y., Die Neue Samlung in Munich and many other Museums.

Isamu Kenmochi 1912-1971
Isamu was born and grew up in Tokyo, and in 1931, at the age of 20, he started working on a standard prototype of chair with Kappei Toyoguchi under Bruno Taut at the National Academy of Industrial Arts in Japan.

Isamu Kenmochi also worked together with Isamu Noguchi on several projects. One of Kenmochi’s and Noguchi’s many collaborations resulted in a strikingly original woven bamboo chair. Isamu also helped Noguchi with furniture design and fabrication for the Shin Banraisha.

In 1952, he founded the Japan Industrial Designers Association with Riki Watanabe and Sori Yanagi and in 1955 he established his Design Laboratory. After that, he received the Gold prize for his work at the Japanese display at the World Exhibition in Brussels.

He later created a variety of interior designs for the Keio Plaza hotel and in 1964, his most famous work, the Lounge Chair. The design of his rattan chair created a modern, sculptural pattern, while retaining a look of traditional craft. This chair gives an impression of volume, with its organic curves, while remaining light and easily carried. It was selected as a permanent exhibit in the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

His Kashiwado chair was created for a famous sumo wrestler of the period, made of solid end-grain “sugi” or Japanese cedar. It is still in limited production today and is part of the permanent collection of the modern collection of the Philadelphia Art Museum.

Luigi Colani 1928-
Born as Lutz Colani in Berlin, Germany, Colani’s Swiss father worked as a film architect in Germany, so Colani spends his school years in the German capital and goes on to study painting and sculpture at the Academy of Fine Arts in Berlin.

In an effort to make himself sound less German, Lutz Colani changed his name to Luigi. It is not surprising that he moved away from Germany, studying aerodynamics at the Sorbonne in Paris, and then worked at the Douglas Aircraft Company in California for a short time.

He moved back to Germany in the late 1950’s, where he immediately caused a sensation with his futuristic automobile and motorcycle design, going on to win the "Golden Rose" prize for work in the field of automobiles.

In the mid 1960s, in Rheda, Westphalia, Germany, a center of the furniture industry, he puts together a design team and concentrates on the use of plastics in his eccentrically shaped furniture. He created a ball shaped kitchen capsule for Poggenpohl, and in 1973 he designed his most famous piece of furniture, the Colani seat, which can be sat upon in a variety of different ways.

His idiosyncratic design style and celebrity personality made him sort of a public persona, and he has achieved incredible success and fame. Hi achievements include the Colani's Alfa Romeo design which was the first sports car to clock a lap of under 10 minutes at the Nürburgring in Germany and becoming the No.1 industrial designer in Japan. In1986 he receives the Golden Camera Award for the Canon T90. In 1990 in Cologne, Germany he opens new head office of design works. In the same year China's ambassador invited Colani for future projects to Shanghai, China, and he gets a professor title of the most famous University of Shanghai, Tongji.

He has created and various products in very different fields-from pianos and TV sets to glasses gold jewelry, and office furniture, to tools, wallpaper and decorative furniture from Siro and design for a new microscope and photo camera, as well as new bottle designs for a leading Swiss mineral-water company VALSER, and uniform design for the Hamburg police force.

Verner Panton 1926-1998
Panton is considered to be one of Denmark's most influential 20th-century furniture and interior designers. He was a master of the fluid, futuristic style of 1960s design which introduced the Pop aesthetic to furniture and interiors. He created these designs by utilizing plastics, vibrant colors. His style was very "1960s" but regained popularity at the end of the 20th century as contemporary furniture.

Panton was trained as architectural engineer and started his own design office in 1955. His chair designs became more and more unconventional, with no legs or discernible back. But it was not until 1959 when Panton came into his own with a truly distinctive style by introducing the Cone Chair, a thinly padded conical metal shell placed point-down on a cross-shaped metal base. He was the designer of the very first single-form injection-moulded plastic chair - the Stacking chair or "S" chair, which would become his most famous and mass-produced design

Panton moved to Cannes in 1962, but settled in Basel the following year where he began a long collaboration with Vitra, the European licensee of Herman Miller. He refused to accept gravity by creating the Flying Chair, a playful piece of fantasy furniture, which was the hit of the 1964 Cologne Furniture Fair. Having made his name as a visionary designer, Panton was given license to experiment. Panton was first to create inflatable furniture, pioneered with the much acclaimed single molded plastic Panton chair.