esquisse-three-form-vs-function

Esquisse two – locking systems

Esquisse one - Triangulation

Fernado and Umberto Campana

Mario Bellini

Architect and designer Mario Bellini was born in 1935 and still alive today and represents the pinnacle of Italian design. He shows a deep ‘respect for the materials and classical forms of traditional European and Italian culture’ in his design. Bellini also seeks inspirations from animals; ‘the zoomorphic or anthropomorphic approach is a means of domesticating the machine monster,’ is his explanation for the mechanical pets he created. The stardust collection he created where he made furniture from a strong white fabric, enforced with a metal mesh placed inside along with LEDs and then inflated with air was inspired by the 'air ravioli' concept that he obtained from the packaging sector.

(Joe Cesare Colombo, ‘B-Line Colombo Modern Multi Chair’, 1969)












(Joe Cesare Colombo, ‘Green lounge chair’, 1963)





















(Joe Cesare Colombo, ‘ELDA CHAIR’, 1963)






















(Joe Cesare Colombo, ‘Tube chair’, 1969)

















(Joe Cesare Colombo, ‘Plywood Chair’, 1963 )





Joe Cesare Colombo (1930-1971) Designer, architect and artist. His influences included Movimento Nucleare, an avant garde art movement in which he experimented by painting abstracted images of fossilised organic forms and an atmosphere of Pop art. Latest production processes and newly developed plastics such as fibreglass, ABS, PVC and polyethylene inspired him to experiment and create items using these new mediums. Most of Colombo’s products show bold, folding, curvaceous forms, lack of sharp corners and straight lines that had ‘characterised his paintings and sculptures’. “His design innovations included one of the first one-piece injection-moulded plastic chairs and a complete kitchen on wheels.”

(Poul Kjaerholm, ‘PK 12 chair’, 1964)

(Poul Kjaerholm, ‘PK-31 Lounge Suite’, 1965)

(Poul Kjaerholm, ‘PK 22 Kold Christensen leather easy chairs’, 1956)

(Poul Kjaerholm , ‘PK 80 daybed’, 1957)

(Poul Kjaerholm, ‘PK 26 Wall Mounted Chairs’, 1956)

Poul Kjaerholm (1929-1980) A Cabinet maker and designer heavily influenced by
designers such as Charles and Ray Eames, Bauhaus icon Ludwig Mies van der
Rohe and the Dutch minimalist Gerrit Rietveld. Kjaerholm work was geared
towards mass production and the modern movement and was able to couple
traditional craftsmanship with industrial production. Kjaerholm incorporated artistic
fineness into steel as other natural materials, used untraditional methods of
manufacturing (compression-moulded plywood) in his search for a minimalist
ideal.

(Ludwig Mies van Der Rohe, ‘Caned Chair /Desk chair’, 1927)

(Ludwig Mies van Der Rohe ‘MR Adjustable Chaise Longue’, 1929)

(Ludwig Mies van Der Rohe ‘Barcelona Stool’, 1929)

(Ludwig Mies van Der Rohe ‘Barcelona Chair’, 1929)

(Ludwig Mies van Der Rohe, ‘D42 Bauhaus Chairs’, 1927)

Ludwig Mies van Der Rohe - (1886-1969). An architect and Designer
his inspirations included; The British arts and crafts movement,
Minimalism from the Bauhaus School of design where he worked, the
industrial age and rational problem-solving where traditional
construction was abandoned. New building materials such as steel,
concrete and new types of glass allowed him to design his furniture
and skyscrapers. His inspiration for the Barcelona chair came from an
Egyptian folding chair and a folding stool from the Romans. The
Barcelona chair is meant to be a modern thrown.

(Joseph Hoffmann, ‘barrel chair’, 1906)

(Joseph Hoffmann, ‘Keller 2 Seater Sofa’, 1909)

(Joseph Hoffmann, ‘Keller Armchair’, 1909)

(Joseph Hoffmann, ‘Cerused barrel armchair’, 1900)

(Joseph Hoffmann, ‘Kubus armchair’, 1918)

Josef Hoffmann, (1870-1935). European Architect and designer he was the leading member of Wiener Secession (1897) a radical anti-historicist movement and Wiener Werkstätte (1903) a workshop who’s purpose was to design art which would be accessible to everyone. Hoffmann’s inspirations included the flamboyant curves and detail of Art Nouveau, the British Arts & Craft movement, the cubistic abstraction from the industrial age, the Bauhaus school of design modernist architecture, Mackintosh and the Glasgow Schools of art design and architecture. His geometric motifs influenced the Art Deco style of the 1920s. Hoffmann furniture used primarily leather and solid wood as its building materials. Plastics are not introduced into furniture design until 1917, aluminium tubular steel and plywood pieces until the 1920s.