Breuer,
Marcel Lajos 1902-1981
(broi ‘er), Breuer, born in Hungary, was an American architect and furniture designer. During the 1920s, he was affiliated with the Bauhaus in Germany, both as a student and teacher. In 1925, Breuer became renown for his design of the first tubular steel and laminated plywood chair. His Laccio Tables and Wassily armchair, offered at e-furnco.com, were also significant developments in his career as furniture designer. Breuer became associate professor of architecture at Harvard University in 1937. From 1937 to 1941, he designed several outstanding houses with Walter Gropius. He used exterior sun shielding in his architectural work, and made eccentric sculptural use of poured concrete.
Eames, Charles 1907-1978
Charles Eames was an architect, and Ray Kaiser (who studied painting with H. Hoffman) was a designer.
They teamed up not just as husband and wife, but also as sophisticated designers. After marrying in 1941,
and becoming known as Charles and Ray Eames, they designed movie sets and researched the use of plywood in furniture.
In 1943, the Museum of Modern Art displayed their furniture, and immediately afterwards, the Herman Miller Furniture
Company began mass-producing their molded plywood chairs. Their furniture soon became recognized as the essence
of beauty, comfort, and elegance. The Eames Lounge Chair
and Ottoman, and
Vitra Side Chair,
Classic, and
Office
chairs, sold at e-furnco.com., exemplify the combination of those singular attributes for which the
Eames’ are so well known.
Frank,
Jean Michel 1895-1941
J. M. Frank, the Parisian furniture designer, known for his zeal for interior design,
designed luxurious and refined pieces of furniture. His furnishings were upholstered
in canvas and hand-made sharkskin. He also used ivory and sycamore in many of his works.
Among his designs is the J.M. Frank collection of Armchair,
Two- and
Three-Seat sofas,
offered here at
e-furnco.com.
Gray,
Eileen 1879-1976
Born in Ireland, Eileen Gray moved to London to begin her career as a designer, where she studied at the
Slade School of Design. She moved to Paris to continue her studies, focusing on drawing and design
of lacquered pieces. As she continued learning about all aspects of design, the unique tools used by
a master craftsman she encountered in Paris, intrigued her. At the time of that encounter, she was
bored with the asymmetrical ornamentation of art nouveau. She related more to the clean and simple
forms of the De Stijl movement. Her yearning for distinctiveness is evident in her furniture designs.
The Eileen Gray Adjustable and
Occasional Tables, available through e-furnco.com., are examples of her
predisposition to designing the unique.
Jacobsen,
Arne 1902-1971
Arne Jacobsen, the Danish architect, was successful in interpreting international functionalism.
He studied architecture at the Royal Danish Academy of the Arts in Copenhagen and worked in the architectural
office of Paul Holsoe. He also worked independently as an interior, furniture, and ceramics designer.
Among his prominent furniture designs are the Series 7 Chair and
Armchair, originally offered in beech,
black, and white, but further developed to be sold in a variety of colors,
and now offered by e-furnco.com.
Le
Corbusier 1887-1965
(le kôrbuzya’), Le Corbusier is the pseudonym of Charles Edouard Jeanneret, the revolutionary French architect
who was born in Switzerland. His buildings and writings epitomized the advancement of modern international
architecture. Part of Le Corbusier’s training was with Auguste Perret, a pioneer in the architectural use of
reinforced concrete. In addition, his talent was further enhanced when Peter Behrens in Berlin became his mentor.
By 1915, his sketches revealed his unique approach to the technical and aesthetic problems involved in the design
and construction of buildings. After 1940, Le Corbusier developed the modulor system of harmonious, but not
identical proportions, where architectural individuality would work together with modern mass production.
As furniture designer, Le Corbusier also excelled. Among his furnishings are the
Club Armchair,
Two-,
and Three-Seat
sofas, the
Grand Comfort Armchair,
Two-, and
Three-Seat sofas, the
Basculant,
Basculant-Pony,
Relax Chaise Lounge, and
Relax Chaise Lounge-Pony,
which can be found here at e-furnco.com.
Lovegrove,
Ross 1958-
Ross Lovegrove, born in Wales, is one of the most stimulating international designers of today.
He graduated in 1983 with a Master’s Degree of Design from the Royal College of Art in London.
He has designed furniture, lighting, aircraft interiors, computers, new product architecture, and much more.
His work is exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the New York Guggenheim Museum, the Axis Centre in Japan,
the Pompidou Centre in Paris, and the Design Museum in London. Here at e-furnco.com., you will find his world
famous Bunny Series Chair,
Armchair,
Swivel Chair, and
Swivel Armchair.
Mackintosh,
Charles Rennie 1868-1928
(mak’entosh), Undoubtedly the greatest Scottish architect and designer, Mackintosh was an enigmatic architect, artist,
and furniture designer. He set out to create a bold, native Scottish style for the modern era. His decorative and
graphic works are some of the finest examples of art nouveau while also being beautiful examples of early modernism.
His few buildings are notable for their absence of external decoration and their subtlety of proportion,
both derived from Scottish medieval architecture and the Scottish Baronial style of the 16th and 17th centuries.
As designer, Mackintosh was influenced in his early work by the English arts and crafts movement and he integrated
architectural and decorative elements in his buildings’ exteriors and interiors. Among his finest interiors were
several turn-of-the-century Glasgow tearooms. His designs, many of which were created in collaboration with his
wife, Margaret Macdonald Mackintosh, often incorporated squares and stylized roses and tulips. Best known of his
stark, elegant, and often beautifully detailed furniture designs are his graceful tall-back wooden chairs.
A classic example of his work is The Mackintosh Ebonized Credenza, sold here at e-furnco.com. His work influenced
such 20th-century figures as Frank Lloyd Wright and Josef Hoffmann.
Leonardo
Manceñido
Leonardo Manceñido, who studied at The Buenos Aires National University, is an interior designer.
He worked in Brazil for a significant part of his life, where he worked with
Edmundo Reinhold, earning
the “Espaçao D” Award and, two years consecutively, a Price Waterhouse Coopers award. They were also part of
the exclusive Grupo ERRE, in Buenos Aires in 1997, where they designed the
Talie Console Glass Top and the
Occasional Table Small and
Medium.
All are found at e-furnco.com. They were also in charge of designing
the first design hotel in South America, the acclaimed Normandie Design Hotel, an important landmark in Sao Paulo.
Reinhold and Manceñido have a design firm called The Edmundo & Leonardo Atelier, doing commercial and
residential architecture and interior and furniture design.
Mies
van der Rohe, Ludwig 1886-1969
(loot’vikh me’es van der ro’e), Mies was a pioneering German-American architect. As a highly influential figure of
modern architecture, he is famous for his minimalist architectural dictum “less is more.” In Berlin, he was an assistant
to Peter Behrens. His German Pavilion for the Barcelona International Exposition of 1929 was heralded for its extravagant
materials, asymmetrical plan, and complex interpenetration of exterior and interior spaces. His interior design work
was just as momentous as his architectural projects. In addition to the
Barcelona Pavilion Chair and
Ottoman designed
for the Barcelona International Exposition, his renowned furnishings, such as the
Jolt Chair and
Armchair,
Brno Armchair and
Tubular Armchair, the Barcelona,
Tungendhat, and
Cocktail tables, have greatly influenced
modern classic design, and all are available here at e-furnco.com.
Eckart
Muthesius (1904-1989)
Eckart Muthesius was born in Berlin. His father, Hermann Muthesius, co-founded the Deutscher Werkbund,
and trained him at a very young age in his studio in Berlin. After his father’s death in 1927, Eckart
founded the Studio Muthesius in collaboration with Klemens Weigel. In his travels to India, he was asked to
design and build a palace in Indore for Yeshwant Rao Holkar Bahadur. It would be called, "Manik Bagh", which
means "Garden of Rubies". Within four years this palace became a masterpiece. It included furniture and lamps
of his own design, among which were the Floor Lamp and
Low Floor Lamp, found here at e-furnco.com. For his
significant contribution to India, he was appointed head of the Planning Department of the State of Indore.
With the outbreak of World War II, he returned to Germany and continued his architectural work there.
Shortly after his last visit to India in 1989, he died in his hometown.
Noguchi, Isamu 1904-1988
(esa ‘moo nogoo ‘che), Noguchi, an American sculptor, was born in Los Angeles. He studied under Gutzon Borglum and won
Guggenheim fellowships in 1927 and 1928. Consequently, he moved to Paris and studied under Brancusi. His trademark
has been his many creations of independent and abstract sculptures, and his development of the stage settings for the
Martha Graham Dance Company. As an impressive sculptor, Noguchi’s artistic skills have combined practicality and
usefulness in furniture design. Among his furniture creations is the
Noguchi Table, found here at e-furnco.com.
Edmundo
Reinhold
Edmundo Reinhold is an architect who developed professionally in Argentina. He taught at The Buenos Aires National
University for more than a decade. Later, in Brazil, he teamed with
Leonardo Manceñido, earning the “Espaçao D”
Award and, two years consecutively, a Price Waterhouse Coopers award. They were also part of the exclusive
Grupo ERRE in Buenos Aires. In 1997, they participated in the Salone di Milano, where they designed the
Talie Console Glass Top
and the Occasional Table Small and
Medium. All are found at e-furnco.com.
They also designed the acclaimed Normandie Design Hotel, an important landmark in São Paulo.
Reinhold and Manceñido have a design firm called The Edmundo & Leonardo Atelier, doing commercial and
residential architecture and interior and furniture design.
Wilhelm
Wagenfeld 1900-1990
Wilhelm Wagenfeld, a German architect and industrial designer, achieved a diversity of great accomplishments.
He was an apprentice in a silverware factory, spent 1923 to 1925 at the Bauhaus in Hanau, and, after the war,
he was a professor of the performing arts in Berlin. Then, after moving to Stuttgart, he established his own
model-building workshop. By 1978, his professional career had reached its climax. His simple, yet practical
designs made him famous as a pioneer in the design industry. In conjunction with Carl Jacob Jucker,
he created the Bauhaus Lamp
Glass Bottom and
Bauhaus Chrome Bottom.
The Wagenfeld Lamp and
Wagenfeld Chrome Top
is also a representation of his contribution to modern classic design.
All are available at e-furnco.com.
Wright,
Frank Lloyd 1867-1959
Born in Richland Center, Wisconsin, and widely considered the greatest American architect, Frank Lloyd Wright
enjoyed practicing radical innovation both as to aesthetics and to structure. At a time when poured reinforced
concrete and steel cantilevers were generally limited to commercial use, Wright pioneered the integration of
machine methods and materials into a true architectural expression. He was the first architect in the United
States to produce open plan houses, in a break from the traditional enclosed volumes, achieving fluidity of
interior spaces by his frequent elimination of dividing walls between rooms. After World War II,
Wright continued a large and ever-inventive practice until his death. He created dynamic interior
spaces, and furnished them with his own creations. Among his furniture developments were the
Barrel chair
and the
Taliesin 2 Table,
which are sold here at e-furnco.com.
