News From Couture Furniture

What Is Modern Furniture?

admin — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 14:13:20 +0000

Modern furniture is often defined as furniture influenced by modernism. This refers to furniture produced from the late 19th century up to the present day.

Prior to this, furniture had traditionally been made from dark, carved wood such as dark mahogany, with rich patterned fabrics.

The influence of modernism produced modern furniture made from polished metals with simple lines, giving a lighter look.

Contemporary furniture designers nowadays continue to evolve, always seeking new materials and simplistic looks. This gives the modern look of chic, clean and elegant furniture.

The origins of these designs were well before the 1960’s and were not produced until the mid 20th century, yet they are still seen as contemporary, modern furniture.

History of Walter Adolph Gropius, founder of Bauhaus

admin — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 09:11:39 +0000

The Bauhaus School was a German design school responsible for some of the most modern architectural and furniture designs of the 20th Century. It ran from 1919 through to 1933 and was founded by the architect Walter Gropius Weimar.
Born in Berlin in 1883, Walter Gropius Weimar was the son of a building advisor to the German government.
Gropius founded the Bauhaus school of design, where the students were taught to create modern looking furniture and architecture using innovative materials.
When the Nazi party rose to power in the thirties, Gropius left his native Germany for Britain and then America.
Bauhaus remains an important movement in the field of design and the furniture inspired by the Bauhaus movement is still produced and sought after today.

Contemporary Furniture Designer Ettore Sottsass

admin — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 09:10:07 +0000

If you have a keen interest in modern furniture design, then you will have heard of Ettore Sottsass. Unfortunately, Sotsass passed away on 31st December 2007 and as a result, there has been a resurgence in discussion of Memphis Design. Here we pay tribute to the life of Ettore Sottsass.

Born in September 1917, Sottsass grew up in Milan with his architect father. He graduated in 1939 with a degree in architecture himself but joined the Italiam military and spent most of World War II in a Yugoslavian concentration camp. After the war, he set up an Italian architectural design studio back in Milan.

In 1959, he began working as a design consultant, designing Olivetti technical equipment such as typewriters and calculators and their office furniture. He won Italy’s highest design award for his redesign of the Olivetti computer in 1959 by adding blocks of colour and lowering the machine so workers could see each other over the top.

At the grand age of 64, Sottsass joined forces with a group of 30-something designers in 1981 to form the Memphis Group. They launched with a collection of just 40 items, including amongst others, furniture, lighting and ceramics. Their iconic, colourful designs made history attracting many famous clients such as Knoll International, Esprit and the Italian furniture company Poltronova. In 2006, the Los Angeles Museum of Art exhibited his work in the US and in 2007 the London Design Museum held the Ettore Sottsass: Work in Progress exhibition.

Ettore Sottsass will be sorely missed as a great modern furniture designer.

Contemporary Furniture Materials & Design

admin — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 09:08:55 +0000

Contemporary furniture designers are always looking to produce their sleek, simple lines with new materials. Polished metals and bright colours give a visually pleasing look to chic, simple rooms of a modern design.

When new materials such as steel were first used, they were considered shocking by some and pioneering by others. Combined with plastic, these new creations, first produced in the late 20th century, were completely different to anything used before.

Modern furniture designers moved away from dark, carved wood with patterned fabric to steel, molded plywood and plastics. They combined the relatively new disciplines of technology and art, using new materials and innovative methods. They used solid blocks of plain colour without any pattern or markings.

German art, Japanese simplicity and eastern philosophy were all cited as early influences on the first modern furniture designers such as Charles and Ray Eames, Eileen Gray and Lilly Reich. These contemporary furniture designers made mass production possible, bringing their modern designs to the masses.

History of the Eames Lounge Chair

admin — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 14:07:00 +0000

The Eames Lounge chair has created much debate among experts surrounding its place within the environment. It’s is argued that chair doesn’t sit well, if you pardon the pun, when grouped together with its brethren. Instead the chair is best seen as a solitary icon, standing proud without another to detract from its style.
As the Eames Lounge Chair is a furniture piece of such quality, it did suffer from being copied in the Nineties. The subject of plagiarism has since been addressed through legal measures; ensuring that its classic, iconic design is preserved so that is the sole domain of the Eames Lounge Chair.
The chair is actually very difficult to assemble anyway, which has made it very difficult to copy. To stave of future copies, the chair has been identified legally has having the following characteristics.
•    The Eames Lounge Chair has smooth, moulded, curved shells
•    The shells are visible from the underside, from the rear, the sides and below the chair.
•    The edges of the shell are exposed from the front.
•    The moulded shells are in the shape of a flattened ‘U’.
•    The moulded shells have cushioned opholstery.
•    The moulded shells come with buttons that form creases in the upholstery.
•    The read of the chair has two moulded shells which are connected to two exposed bars, angled so that they tilt the upper moulded shell forward of the lower shell.
•    The angled bars are spaced away from the moulded shells.
•    The armrests are upholstered and they extend downwards into the chair itself, connecting the two back shells to the moulded seat.

Examples of Modern Furniture

admin — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 09:06:00 +0000

Below are three early, famous iconic examples of modern furniture.

Eileen Gray’s Side Table

Eileen Gray designed a home for herself and Jean Badovici in France called the E-1027. For the guest room, she designed a special side table in 1927 at the request of her sister. The asymmetry of the table is typical of her ‘non-conformist’ style but has specific utility because it not only functions as a side table, but is also made so it can be adapted to use for eating breakfast in bed.

Noguchi Coffee Table

This Noguchi Coffee Table is one of the most sought after pieces of modern furniture in history. Noguchi was a half-American, half-Japanese modern furniture designer, famous for organic modern designs.

The Barcelona Chair

The Barcelona Chair is the piece of modern furniture most associated with the famous Bauhaus design. It was designed in 1929 by Lilly Reich and Mies Van Der Rohe in Barcelona for a design fair and they dedicated its design to the Spanish royal family. Apparently, it was inspired by the folding chairs of the Egyptian Pharaohs and the footstools of the Romans.

These three modern furniture icons are just a few of the famous modern furniture pieces admired by those who follow the modernism design movement.

How To Arrange Furniture In Your Living Room

admin — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 09:04:50 +0000

The living room is arguably one of the most important rooms in your home, so one that you will want to get right. It’s the room where you and your family will congregate, one where you will welcome visitors and relax. The living room is a room where you will spend a lot of time and creates a lasting impression of you and your home.

Whether you decide to go for a more contemporary look with modern furniture or whether you choose to have a more traditional feel, these guidelines will help you decide how to arrange your furniture to get the best from your living room:

Although it may seem tedious, many people find it helpful to start by creating a floorplan of the room so they can see how things will look and fit in the room. This is especially helpful if you will be buying a few key pieces or even commissioning a new piece of furniture

Once you have your floorplan, decide upon a focal point to the room. This might be your entertainment centre such as where your television is located, or the fireplace or you may decide to use a large window, but decide upon your focal point

Arrange your furniture around the focal point. Ensure that your furniture complements the focal point but avoid unnecessary congestion

Learn About Modern Furniture with Fay Sweet

admin — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 09:03:10 +0000

If you’re looking to learn about modern furniture, there is a great book by Fay Sweet called Vintage Furniture: Collecting & Living With Modern Design Classics.

The book contains an overview of modern furniture from the late 19th century when modern furniture designs were just starting to be introduced into production.

It includes a summary of all the early influencers such as the Bauhaus, Ruhlmann, Rietveld, Thonet and then onto the Scandinavian influencers such as Wegner, Aalto, Jacobsen and more. Charles and Ray Eames are included of course, as is Noguchi and other modern furniture greats.

Where you will find this book really comes into its own is with its sections on post- and pop-modernism. Since Ettore Sottsass passed away in December 2007, there have been many articles talking about Memphis design and this book will explain what everyone is talking about.

This book is an excellent tutor on classic and modern furniture design and one that should be highly recommended.

Make The Most Of Your Alcoves

admin — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 09:00:27 +0000

Alcoves can really make or break a room. If not used correctly, alcoves can be a waste of space and make a room look and feel unattractive.

On the other hand, when used properly alcoves can become a focal point of a room and enhance a room’s character, particularly when used correctly in conjunction with modern furniture.

Alcoves need to blend into a room. They make ideal architectural features and the lighting should be appropriate for the items stored in them. Alcoves don’t have to be limited to housing just a few shelves that quickly become covered in dust.

Have a look round our site for a few contemporary ideas. If you are looking for the sleek, minimalist look of modern furniture design, our slide open drawer shelves are ideal for shutting away all of the clutter. You could also have a combination of cupboards and shelves with some low level lighting for an atmospheric feel. Alternatively, you could go for the clean, simple lines of one or two select shelves.

Alcoves don’t have to ruin the contemporary feel you’re looking for.

Marcel Breuer

admin — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 14:01:26 +0000

Marcel Breuer began his career in the mid 1920’s as a teacher at Germany’s famous Bauhaus school of art, then moving on to London in 1935 where he designed furniture for the Isometric Unit Construction Company.
Breuer had a love of working with metal, but was told that the British market was too traditional to accept metal furniture into their homes at the time, so had to adapt to working with plywood.
Breuer took to working with wood so well that the first wave of designs he crafted are now seen by many as landmarks of design for the 20 Century. He created five pieces where he utilised the plywood to make the best out of the material, forming it into a fluid, sinuous design. The furniture pieces included an armchair and a nest of tables.
Although regarded as design icons now, Breuer was his own biggest critic and, much like with his earlier career, was full of doubts on the designs he was creating.