Alvar Aalto

Alvar Aalto was one of Finland’s first Modernists He made his international
breakthrough as a furniture designer. Aalto wished to learn "the language of
wood fibres" and believed that there is a positive effect when our skin comes
into contact with natural materials
. His unique architectural style is characterized by asymmetry, curved lines,
and contrasting natural materials.
.derived his inspirations from his country and his love of wood.
Alvar Alto used plywood with some new wood and glues to make moulded
tables and trolleys.
•Alvar alto mostly worked on bent wood forms.
He used plywood rather than metal because he felt that it suited the
requirements of human body better.
He finally decided that a single sheet of ¼” plywood was strong enough to
support the human body.
•In his furniture designs he exhibited the knowledge of mass production.
•He designed simply and elegantly outside fashion influences.
•He made well designed modern furniture available at low costs. 1
A Scandinavian Plywood Table by Alvar Aalto, c1931.

. Much of the furniture for the hospital came from experimental

design work he carried out with his wife, Aino Marsio, including
this table and laminated bentwood chairs sometime covered
with a birch veneer.

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 Chairs and Stools by Alvar Aalto, c1937.

This chair is one of the original series of laminated wood furniture, the
Scandinavian equivalent of Bauhaus tabular steel. Alvar Aalto (1898-1976)
was a major Finnish architect of the Modernist movement, concerned not
only with the spaces in the building in which the people lived, but the
furniture which occupied those spaces.

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 PLYWOOD CHAIR- ALVAR ALTO

ARMCHAIR WITH LAMINATED BENTWOOD FRAME

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Laminated wood stacking stools designed by
Albert Aalto, 1929-30.

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STACKING STOOL- ALTO

FIRST STACKING
CHAIR- ALTO

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PLYWOOD CHAIR WITH BENT PLYWOOD CHAIR-
WEBBING SEAT- ALTO ALTO

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Charles Eames:
• considered to have been the most significant creative design.
• his designs have had maximum impact on today’s furniture,
• he was also active in many other area of designs such as films, toys.
• first chair designed was eero saasinen of molded plywood.
•His main objective was to develop reasonably priced comfortable strong yet light
chairs that followed body contours and flexed with body movments.
• used polished aluminum and Brazilian rosewood in his arm chairs.
•His designs were light and could be placed in any position in a space.
•Furniture were of various colors.
•He exploited machine production yet controlled it

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 MOULDED WALNUT PLYWOOD
CHAIR – CHARLES
CHAIR- EAMES
EAMES
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LOUNGE CHAIR AND STOOL –
EAMES

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MOULDED PLYWOOD CHAIR- EAMES
WIRE CHAIR- EAMES

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WOMB HAIR- EAMES AND LOUNGE CHAIR OF POLISHED
SARRENEININ ALUMINIUM
-EAMES

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 STACKING CHAIR- EAMES
SHELL CHAIR- EAMES

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Marcel Breuer :

• youngest master at Bahaus.

• conceived of furniture as an architectural form directly relaed to human body.
• considered furniture an autonomous form of architecture.
• his furniture was at first angular with straight lines then gradually developed
up to flowing organic forms.
• used bent frames tubular steel, bent aluminum straps, bent plywod and finally
upholstered pads with wooden slat frames.
• used cantilever structure.
• structure is visible and use of tactile materilas for upholstery.

Walter Groupius and Marcel worked on

tubular chrome chair.

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 Marcel Breuer
The Wassily Chair, also known as the Model B3
chair, was designed by Marcel Breuer in 1925-
26. This chair is inspired by the curves of his
bicycle handle bar.

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Chair with steel frame, chrome-plated welded caps. Seat and back in machine-made
cane, black ? natural or wooden edge.
Size: 18,307" x 21,063" x 30,315"

Armchair with steel frame, chrome-plated welded caps. Seat and back in machine-
made cane, black ? natural or wooden edge.

Size: 22,638" x 22,047" x 31,496"

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WOODEN CHAIR BY MARCEL WASSILY CHAIR- BREUR
BREUR

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CESCA CHAIR- BREUR CHAIR IN LAMINATED BENTWOOD-
BREUR

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 FOLDING WOODEN
ALUMINIUM CHAIR- BREUR
CHAIR- BREUR

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Mies Van Der Rohe:

• was older to breuer but arrived at bahus later.

• first architect to use glass in a building.
• his architecture reflected the ideas of ‘De Stijt’ with bypassing planes, a continous
flow of space and a relationship between exterior and interior.
•His furniture was elegant simple and unornamented.
• his furniture was complimentary to architecture with its exposed structure and
cantilever construction.

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BENT CHROME STEEL CHAIR - MEIS BARCELONA CHAIR - MEIS

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BRNO CHAIR- MEIS CHROME PLATED FLAT STEEL LEATHER
STRAPPING AND UPHOLSTERY- MEIS

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DE STIJL MOVEMENT:

• this originated in holland after world war first and was the result of
disintegrations of values and poverty after the war.
• this helped to destroy the limitations imposed yby traditions.
• three elements formed the basis of philosophy :
1. the rectangle
2. Saturated primary colors.
3. Asymmetrical balance.
• Features of this style:
• It had no ties to the past.
• It featured simple square elements screwed together.
• Rectangular cube forms appear to bypass each other by joining of vertical
elements.
• the feeling of lightness was created by each point seprate.
• The furniture was made to be mass produced of standard components
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• It affected architecture more than furniture.
BAHAUS:
(Established by Walter Gropius)
• was created in Germany in 1919 to function as a consulting centre for the
industry.
• the students were trained by an artist and a master craftman.
• it is program offered the student practical training as a joiner, a blacksmith, a
stonemason, a potter or a weaver and artist’s understanding of form color and
material.
• the mashine was accepted and furniture suitable for machine production was
created.
• in this institute tubar matel furniture and stacking furniture was designed by
Marcel bruer and cromium plated steel furniture was designed by Mies Van Der
Rohe.
• other innovations included the use of metal tubing in lamps, the use of textures
instead of ornamentations to contrast with highly polished surg\faces. Use of
geometric forms adaptable to machine.
• after Hitler come into power the Bahaus was closed and its designers were
dispersed, but the style become international. 24
 Furniture development in the France

Le Corbusier
‘Le grand confort ’ chair designed by Le Corbusier, 1928
was a form of armchair with large cusions and leather, skin
or canvas upholstery fitted onto a tubular steel framework.

5"w · 4.25"d · 4.75"h

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Le Corbusier:

Le corbusier redifined furniture into three categories-

Chairs
Tables
Shelves
• according to le Corbusier furniture was an equipment and the house a
machine to live in.
• this equipment was divided into three categories: chairs, tables and built in
storage
• his furniture was utilitarian and needed no ornamentation
•He designed chairs for conversation reclining and comfort.

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CONVERSATION CHAIR- LE CHAISE DE LOUNGE- LE
CORBUSIER CORBUSIER

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LIVING ROOM – LE CORBUSIER

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Frank Lloyd Wright:
• chief goal was the creation of an uplifting environment with the interior as his
starting point.
• when he had selected the interior structural system and material , the
exterior followed in a consistently pleasing way.
• Wright designed and built in much of his furniture to merge with his
architecture.
• he treated free standing furniture such as tables, benches and chairs as an
integral part of the structure.
DESIGN FEATURES:
• he designed from the inside out.
• he popularized the open plan.
• he made ornamentation an integral part of the structure.
• he produced the illusion of unlimited space by the use of diagonals, glass
light and symmetry.
• he used such innovations as wall hung toilets, air conditioning, radiant heat
and glass doors. 29
• he designed furniture which was geometric, uncomfertable and rectilinear but
which paved the way for furniture developments.
•He designed furniture for specific interiors.
•The first one to use latex foam.
• wright chairs were uncomfortable because he believed that reclining was the
natural posture for relaxation and that sitting was unnatural.

FRANK LOYD WRIGHT

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 OAK SPINDLE CHAIRS BY
FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT
• These chairs, typical of
wright’s furniture.
• This chair is tall and linear and
is geometric and
fundamentally based on a
grid.as wright designed many
economic furnitures ,this chair
is uses a vast amount of
timber and is expensive to
produce. 31
 AN OFFICE CHAIR BY WRIGHT
1904
This early example of
adjustable office
furniture was made
for the completely
fireproof building. It is
a strange combination
, with its geometric
lines and grid
decoration , and a
functional modernity.
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METAL OFFICE CHAIR - WRIGHT
BARREL CHAIR - WRIGHT

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 AN AMERICAN SIDECHAIR BY
WRIGHT
This chair combines
wright,s main ideals
that furniture should
be sympathetic with
its surroundings, and
that it should be
accessible to all ,the
plywood construction
being cheap to
manufacture.
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 Gerrit Rietveld’s most famous work is
angular ‘Red-blue’ chairs of 1917

Gerrit Rietveld
believed in using
primary colours and
rectangular forms .

Gerrit
Rietveld
(1888-1969)
made
geometric
shaped
tables which
even today
seem
revolutionary

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• Eileen Gray
• Her design is highly original, notably her sofas
and chairs, 1919-22.
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Chairs designed by Eileen Gray, 1919-22.

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Interior designed by Eileen Gray for the modist
Suanne taibot,1919-22.

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Furniture development in the USA

Eero
Saarinen’s eomb Chair 70MC
designed by Eero of 1945-
1948.
• Eliel saarinen’s son, eero ,and
charles eames worked with
plastic and fibre glass, and
moulds.
• Plastic had become common
material in second half of this
century.

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 JOSEF HOFFMANN
In 1903, josef hoffmann, worked on typical grid-like
designs,mainly in black and white.
He was a influential Architect.
Although he was radial in his designs,being much influenced by
Mackintosh,
Also highly respected, & taught at the Vienna School of Arts &
Crafts for over 30 years.
It is a good example of Josef Hoffmann's bentwood designs.
It is executed by the specialist factory of KHON & KHON .
He was a profile designer of chairs.

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One of the signature of
his chair designs are the
curious lobes or spheres
which support the joints
on the front legs.
The back of these chairs
are a pastiche of a
Sheraton tea tray,
decorated with an inlaid
fan in the centre
After this he also added
leather with brass caps
on the legs.
It is a set of six and show
the emphasis placed on
simplicity & respect for
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tradition.
It is produced by his own
factory.
This the Biach chair shows
Hoffmann’s command of the
bentwood medium.
This design was light
economical to produce.yet
study and stylish.
He used geometrical
shapes,simple straight lines,
and spherical supports at the
joints through which screws
join seat to leg,

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This dining chair has armloffel
or Arm spoon.
It shows the original spirit of
the Secession:austere and
angular.
It decorated with grid pattern .

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It shows the impact of the Art
Deco movement on
Hoffmann's Designs.
Its chic,sculptural forms are
soft and welcoming.
Edges are highlighted with
Hoffman's trademark.

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This Kubus armchair
designed in1910.
Every part of the chair is a
pure geometric shape,even
the castors are hemispheres.

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Mies Van Der Rohe:

• was older to breuer but arrived at bahus later.

• first architect to use glass in a building.
• his architecture reflected the ideas of ‘De Stijt’ with bypassing planes, a continous
flow of space and a relationship between exterior and interior.
•His furniture was elegant simple and unornamented.
• his furniture was complimentary to architecture with its exposed structure and
cantilever construction.

46
BENT CHROME STEEL CHAIR - MEIS BARCELONA CHAIR - MEIS

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BRNO CHAIR- MEIS CHROME PLATED FLAT STEEL LEATHER
STRAPPING AND UPHOLSTERY- MEIS

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