Iconic Furniture Pieces

Published
05/15/2013 by Claire, The Wooden Furniture Store

Have you considered where the inspiration for some of the everyday furniture designs that you see on the high street and in your own home may have originated from? We asked Clare, from wooden furniture specialist www.wooden-furniture-store.co.uk to offer her selection of iconic furniture designs and designers that have shaped the contemporary furniture we see today.

Eames lounge chair

Eames and his wife Ray are widely accredited with designing some of the Twentieth Century’s most important and modern furniture. Their most widely recognised creation is the beautiful Eames Lounge Chair and Footstall.

Charles Eames was born in St Louis in 1907, he married Ray Kaiser in June 1941. Together, they moved to Los Angeles, where initially Charles worked for MGM and Ray for an architecture magazine. In their free time, Charles and Ray worked together developing new ways of working with plywood – experimenting by making toys, sculptures and furniture. The inspiration behind their iconic Eames Lounge Chair and Footstall originates with the Hollywood Director - Billy Wilder – who used to make haphazard seating creations for himself on busy films sets. Their furniture gift to him became a modern masterpiece. The chair features a mix of luxurious leather and magnificent sculpted ply-wood. It was beautifully designed to suit the human form and marked a change in seating design. Very quickly the Eames lounge chair became a big hit worldwide and is as popular today as it was 50 years ago

Arco lamp

The Arco Floor Lamp is one of the most iconic statement lights ever made. The lamp was designed by Achille Castiglioni and Pier Giacomo Castiglionii for Flos in 1962. It was a design breakthrough as it provided overhead lighting without a ceiling light fixture.

Most rooms have the electrical output for a ceiling lamp right in the middle of the ceiling, but most dining tables are not placed in the middle of a room. Achille Castiglioni took inspiration from the structure of street lighting in Italy. The Acro light with its overhanging lamp and its heavy marble base is the perfect centrepiece for any room with its gracious curves, strong aesthetic presence and space-age connotations that make it a favourite in high-style living and a perfect item of stylish home office furniture.

Barcelona chair

The Barcelona chair was designed Ludwig Meis van der Rohe and Lilly Reich to provide a comfortable break for the King of Spain as he visited the German Pavillion at the International Exposition of 1929. It is a perfect example of Bauhaus Design –van der Rohe was the last director of the school before the Nazis closed it down.

The inspiration for the design is thought to be taken from a Roman folding chair known as the Curule Chair which was upholstered stools used by Roman aristocracy. The Barcelona Chairs smooth lines and minimalist appeal demonstrate iconic timeless design. Despite the industrial appearance, the chair is largely handmade – the cushions are made from 148 separate pieces of leather and the chromed stainless steel frame is hand buffed to a mirror finish. The chair is a contemporary, enduring design that is in a word perfect.

Noguchi coffee table

“Everything is sculpture" said designer-artist Isamu Noguchi. The American-Japanese designer originally trained as a sculptor, brought a sculptural sensibility to everything he created: lighting, furniture, gardens and stage sets. His most famous creation is his stylish coffee table.

The Noguchi table was an evolution of a wood and glass he designed in 1939 for Conger Goodyear, president of the Museum of Modern Art. The base of the table is carved from solid walnut and is constructed from two asymmetrical, biomorphic-shaped pieces of walnut wood that supports a softly curved piece of glass on top. Despite their status as modern classics, Noguchi tables are widely available and relatively affordable. This is at least partly due to the fact that they have been in constant production and in addition, the table is very durable as well as beautiful.

So that’s Clare’s view – what’s yours? You can carry on the debate on Clare’s Wooden Furniture Pinterest Page or leave your own comments below.