Top 10 Most Influential Furniture Designers

Creating this list was no easy task. I fretted over the likes of Boulle, Ruhlmann, the Bauhaus, and Sidney Barnsley. But my list is well thought out and they did not make the cut. Oh 10 years from now I may change a name or 2, perhaps replace a time period with an individual but this list of the 10 most influencial furniture designers is finished. You can double click the time-line to reference a larger view.

The following is in chronological order and not based on who had the most influence. So lets start with:

the Renaissance

a period of enlightenment, a time when regions that now comprise Italy took the arts center stage, all while Medici funded architectural experimentation. Perspective is what turns up in furniture which eventually became the focal point of marquetry.
Starting as intarsia, pictures in perspective created in wood later turned into furniture embellishment. Furniture now could tell a story. Lets look to the Met at Studiolo and to the work of Fra Giovanni pictured.
Mostly importantly, this enlighting Renaissance period had anybody who was a player heading south to learn the tricks of the trade. From France, from Germany, from Belgium and Holland, artists and craftsman came to Italy then went home to spread the creativity through their work.



Thomas Chippendale

We are used to seeing a Philly Highboy
and referr to it as Chippendale, but the soul of who Chippendale was, is reflected in the "eclecticism of his production" as seen in Chippendale's Director.
People watching along St. Martin's Lane in the 1750's, would have witnessed a revolutionary change in furniture manufacturing. The Chippendale company was not the only game in London but he was the saviest. St Martin's Lane was a magnet for talent and facilities employed 100's to meet the growing housing demand.

















Chippendale's business acumen enabled him to do it better than most. His understanding of fashion within the decorative arts and an ability to hire well kept him in the forefront.

Above is the Harrington Commode.
A Chippendale design that in january 2011 under "Sotherby's hammer" fetched a whopping 5.9 million dollars to become the most expensive piece of English furniture sold at auction.

My hat's tipped and re-tipped to Thomas Chippendale.


Robert Adam

Now I know that Dorothy Draper fans will be annoyed, but it was Robert Adam long before Dot who was the first Interior Designer.
Robert Adam as architect created the space and as Interior Decorator created from soup to nuts, fabulous interiors.

In a previous post I had mentioned that you seek "good" interior designers. "GOOD" is defined by working with Interior Designers who create the entire room not just a piece. This was Robert Adam.



The piece at right is from the Chippendale shop, designed with and for Robert Adam. Look at the balance, the fine details of Adam and the execution of Chippendale. Just simply fantastic.






Let us not forget that it was Adam who brought the NeoClassical style to life which lead in America to the Federal Period.





Robert Adam the master of scale and space!!!



David Roentgen

The mechanical madman and cabinetmaker to Royalty.

David Roentgen grew-up in the family business. His father Abraham Roentgen apprenticed in The Hague, Rotterdan, Amsterdam, and London, and settled the shop in Neuwied, Germany.
There be built for the local princes and religous figures but it was David obviously well tutored, who spread the wings of the family business and created "the most spectacular chapter in the history of German furniture-making".

At right is a writing desk from the Roentgen work shop for the Archbishop and Elector of Trier. To appreciate, you need to investigate this piece thoroughly.

David Roentgen was called "the most celebrated ebeniste in Europe". It was his view of the international market at the time that set him apart. With cartloads of furniture Roentgen set up distribution in Holland, Germany and most importantly Paris where he sold to the Royals.


















It was in Paris where the company fortunes turned. Paris is where he sold to Louis XVI and became Marie Antoinette's cabinetmaker.

With more to conquer beyond Europe, Roentgen loaded up the carts again and headed to St Petersburg, Russia where he landed as a client, Catherine the Great a luxury furniture enthusiast. Roentgen pieces are present today in the Hermitage Museum.

David Roentgen with secret compartments and latches to expose more secret compartments may not have been the craftsman of his contemporaries Oeben and Riesener but Oeben and Riesener did not conquer a continent. Who knows maybe Ingvar Kampar was inspired by Roentgen, after all for effeciency and cost, occasional pieces of Roentgen's were RTA long before IKEA.

The Shakers

Simple forms, "devoid of all that is useless and vain". Many will view Shaker furniture as the first example of modern furniture. This view is not construed based off an artistic form but rather the idea behind standardized parts that meet the highest production quality. A minimalist approach to and through the design process.

Althoug I have built entertainment centers in the style of Shaker, I am not a fan of Shaker furniture, but I do respect a good design when I see it and we've been looking and admiring it for over a century.

Heck lets not forget, the Shakers invented the circular saw. That alone has made our woodworking lives much easier.

Michael Thonet

With proper data, I bet one could prove that Michael Thonet's bentwood cafe chair Nr14 has sold more units than any other furniture design.

Thonet begain in 1819 specializing in parquetry. It was in the 1830's that he begain experimenting with manufacturing techniques. Bending wood to be specific.
By the 1850's under the company name Gebruder Thonet, Thonet and his sons were exporting around the world with manufacturing facilities throughout Europe. In the 1870's Thonet had established sales offices all through Europe, Russia, and the US cities of Chicago and New York.

Judith Miller in her book "Furniture" writes, "Thonet's legacy has endured well into the modern age - he precipitated Charles and Ray Eames's mass-produced office chairs, and of course the modern flat pack domestic furniture industry."

Micheal Thonet a manufacturnig genius who replaced joinery with the mechanical fastener and blew away the furniture world.

Hans Wegner
the chairmakers....chairmaker!!!


It's very obvious to see that Hans Wegner inspired many craftsman including, the style and production of Sam Maloof.

Wegner designing over 500 chairs, was about the design process from the craftsman perspective. I'll paraphase here, but "let the craftsman do what he can do in the design process and let machines do what the craftsman couldn't". Where Maloof stayed in craft-based production, Wegner took his into industrial design/production.

Having been exposed to Wegner back in the late 70's, while in a production environent, a lost thought in the US design community that I have never forgotten was Wegner's thought on the production process.
Bernsen writes, that Wegner stated,"you have to know exactly what a craftsman and factory can do. And also what they shouldn't do". Words to profitable design placement.

One last nugget associated with Hans Wegner is the approach to the design process. Wegner for 25 years participated in Design Competitions believing that one wasn't a "furniture designer" after 3 pieces but through cummulative participation, one nutured an understanding where, "Craftsmanship unites knowledge of material, construction, and process".

Hans Wegner.... the chairmaker's chairmaker!!-whose designs manufactured by Karl Hansen and Son are just as popular today as they were 50 years ago.

Robert Probst


Robert Probst was the director of Herman Miller's Research Division established in 1960. Probst's passionate mantra was "that the artist needed to be more involved functionally in society".


Probst research obsession became the white-collar work environment. His solution was intended to be "flexible and resposive to new ideas and changing opportunities". With the help of George Nelson giving the concept form, Action Office 1 was born.


Three years later the modular office furniture was refined and relaunched as Action Office 2.
Although cheap copies from creative wankers have given rise to the cubicle, Probst concept and ideas have changed the way a white-collar work environment is structured while creating a multibillion dollar segment of the furniture industry.

What probst learned was once the original Office Action layout was in place, nobody took the time to work the environment as it evolved.

As Berry quotes Probst, "Not all organizations are intelligent and progressive. Lots are run by crass people who can take the same kind of equipment and create hellholes. They make little bitty cubicles and stuff people in them."





Wendell Castle/John Makepeace


I know, I know.... I double dipped in the "Craft Revival" movement of the 1960's and 70's, but Castle from the US and Makepeace the UK, are true contemporaries. Both careers parallel and at individual strengths, diverge. Besides, I struggled with listing Arts and Craft builder Sidney Barnsley, arguably the first Studio Furniture Maker,(not Wharton Esherick) that I had to put Makepeace in the mix.

Where Makepeace is a woodworking technician, Castle is a sculptor of wood. I believe Makepeace
to be the more innovative with his "bespoke" wooden material, where Castle is more creative in deriving form. Both men have left their legacy in furniture design. No doubt Makepeace has been knighted and Castle is listed as one of the top 10 designers in the world, the only American to make the list.

Today both are still creating and most importantly still meeting show deadlines. I am a big fan of both men. In 1980ish, one of the early books I purchased for my library was The Art of Making Furniture, where both a young Makepeace and young Castle are featured in the book.

For those of you who think they are or want to be a Studio Furniture Maker, always remember, it is Castle
who brought high monetary value to the studio craft movement during the 1980's as he fought and continues today to fight to get furniture out of the decorative arts wing and into the Fine Arts wing of museums where perceived value is higher.






Ettore Sottsass


Although I timelined Sottsass at 1980, he's was extremely productive in the 1950's and 1960's as an Indutrial Designer. Long before Ives made the Ipod fashionable, Ettore Sottsass made the typewriter fashionable. The Valentine typewriter designed for Olivetti was a fashion statement of the time.

Sottsass always curious about numerous creative media, made his mark in furniture design in 1980-81, instigating and leading the Memphis Group in a Post-Modern effort.
After living with Modern Design philosophies since the 1920's, architects and industrial designers begain to question the "less is more" mantra in the 1960's. It was Robert Venturi's writing who looked for more and spoke of "less being a bore". It was Sottsass who looked at decorative objects as an opportunity to seek possibilities not solve a specific design problem.
Radice writes that Memphis "is concerned above all with breaking ground,extending the field of action, broadening awareness, shaking things up, discussing conditions, and setting up fresh opportunities."
Of course new technologies at the time enabled a new "sensory concentration" when viewing the assembly of various materials in all sorts of color, inventive graphics, and geometric shapes and sizes.

You don't have to look far to see the impact that Memphis had on the US Studio Furniture Maker, look at Gary Knox Bennett's work "Colorcore Desk" 1984 and Memphis designer, Peter Shire's "Peninsula" table 1982. Knox was obviously inspired by the freedom Memphis allowed. You even see Memphis in Castle's 80's work, but at least he acknowledges Ettore Sottsass. Look at Tom Loeser, same thing, Memphis with subdued color tones. The list goes on with investigation.

I will argue that the Memphis group is the last defined historic furniture period we have had and brought to you by Ettore Sottsass. For me personally, it was an absolute plessure to have caught on to Memphis, lived in its time and built in its philosophy while others of my age group got fogged by Krenov.


For those of you searching for why you DIY and want more out of the craft of furniture design, a personal intellectual investigation into the Memphis group will be awakening.





Well there you have the 10 Most Influencial Furniture Designers. Who are your influencial designers, and more importantly WHY?

Looking at Furniture Opportunities

I've been at this game of furniture design and manufacturing for over 30 years now and have faded "Polaroid" photo's to prove it. I've had my successful runs and recently I've been looking back on the opportunities that presented themselves.

Like some of you today, my first look 30 years ago, was to work the craft show scene. Although the craft show circuit was more vibrant then, the opportunity to "make a good living" was suspect at best. Yes fun, more in the hobby realm, gas money, good exposure, extra cash for another tool, all positives but as an opportunity to make a living and accumulate wealth, the craft circuit would not provide that opportunity.

But what would be the furniture design opportunity to make a living???

Could a gallery be the opportunity??? Could working the Studio Furniture Maker be the angle to opportunity????

Maybe, so I headed to Pitman and Eames early on when they showed Castle and Krenov. I was familiar with both and wanted to see their work first hand, but the gallery scene didn't stir the juices. The idea of one or two owners determining the value of your skill set has never made sense to me. A gallery owner such as Peter Joseph may have an eye and make you money but why limit your opportunities.

So now where was the opportunity to "make a good living".

Coming out of a large manufacturing facility, my skill set would work perfect with a small crew for short production runs of high-end residential case goods. Wha-La!!! OPPORTUNITY!!!!

On that route, I've placed work in the upper east side of Manhattan, all through Long Island from Sands Point to the Hamptons and neighborhoods in-between. The real key was building on that Opportunity of residential case goods and placing pieces in the NYC Design Center at 200 Lex, producing a line that fit the small upscale furniture boutiques of Nassau County, understanding how a sales rep ticks, and squeezing in the work of good interior decorators.

Opportunity comes in funny packages and here's one that I will always remember. Through an interior decorator, we landed a big job in the 5 acre estates of Oyster Bay. The client, a rather wealthy bloak, said lets go for a ride. AH..... my opportunity to ride in an ivory colored Bentley Corniche convertible. The idea behind the ride was to inform me of the incentive to payment and exactly where as we pulled into the parking lot, I would purchase all finishing materials for the job.

Opportunity in furniture design today is different but it still exists. WoodExpo2012 is just that, an opportunity for those serious about making a difference in furniture design and manufacturing. WoodExpo isn't an opportunity to talk about sandpaper grit and what bandsaw you own. Its about finding a synergy with other craftsman and talk business.

WoodExpo2012 is an opportunity to Bust Down the Door and find our way back into the consumers thought process.

Like I said, Opportunity comes in funny packages, but you have to be open and ready to expand the opportunity. WoodExpo2012 is that start!!!!

Sam Maloof - more than a rocker

I received a call the other day.
It was a woodworking compadre who nonchalantly said,
“Well we lost one of our greats”……I had to ask who.

Over the past months, I’ve been cleaning up loose ends, roaming happily lost in my own direction, and checking in on the internet woodworking community only on occasion.

But when the who was answered, I was sad.

I clip articles of great performance and place them in my favorite books. I went to my copy of Sam Maloof – Woodworker, (first edition 1983) and was not disappointed. Having worn out his VHS tape “Sam Maloof, Woodworking Profile” like an old 45, Sam Maloof is one of my favorite woodworker’s. I can still picture him following that one hard line around an entire chair. But whose performance earned the right to be in my Sam Maloof book? More on that later.

It’s Sam’s book and it’s his day.

My woodworking foundation is firmly in furniture manufacturing. While working at Broyhill on the industry’s shop floor, Gigi and I also worked the craft scene at the tail end of the movement. This is the connection for me to Sam Maloof. I had the best of both worlds, first hand exposure to furniture designed for the masses and the study of Maloof’s approach to pieces designed for limited-production. To me, I saw no difference in the production at Broyhill Furniture Industries and lets call it, Sam Maloof Industries. The only variable between the two was what percentage came off the machine. The higher the production volume required, the higher the machine percentage needed. Finding the design balance between machine and handwork was Maloof’s genius.

Sam Maloof, was instrumental in exhibiting the production of fine wood craft. Recently, I received a note from Jon Binzen a writer of all things furniture. He commented on the Castle and Kopf interviews by saying, “The one with Silas brought out his personality remarkably well….” the reason for this comfort level between Silas and myself, has much to do with the craft movement. Maloof having been a part of the California Design exhibitions, masterfully showed studio furniture next to production furniture. Remarkably, Maloof and Eames showed in the same California Design Exhibits. Maloof showed in the yearly CD exhibits from CD 1 in 1954 to CD’75. Rhinebeck was the major east coast Craft Show and Silas Kopf was a player in those exhibits. The scene peeked mid to late 70’s, and as mentioned previous, Gigi and I hit the tail end, but the attitude, the lifestyle, the vibe is evident in those who participated. The Craft Show era is over and the closest example to those exhibits today is the ICFF, but you have to have been aware of what was showed in the CD exhibits and Rhinebeck to appreciate this vestige of Maloof.

Unfortunately, it seems everybody just stops at a Maloof rocking chair and feels the inspiration. Sam Maloof is much more than just a rocker. He provided the vision of limited production and finding optimal furniture designs to manufacture. For me, through self study I came to profit margin terms and the manufacturing understanding of what can be built within the confines of a 40 - 48" X 15 - 21 X 30 - 34 rectangle, that’s what I learned from Sam Maloof. That’s his genius, I just wish somewhere we could find a quote where he mentioned out loud, that he had to meet a production quota. If he did, I believe American woodworking would have a different look today.

So just who is it that resides in my Maloof book. One was a 1992 article from the New York Times Sports section on Vitaly Shcherbo. My expectations are very high, so it seems logical now that Shcherbo, who won 6 Olympic Gymnastic Titles at the Barcelona games, was folded neatly in Sam’s text. Life is all about performance.

The other article was from a 1983 issue of Time magazine. Under “Milestones”, it was an obit piece on the death of R. Buckminster Fuller.

I only had to look to my right and see my Spaceship Earth Dymaxion Globe.

Here’s to Sam Maloof and thank you!!!!!!!

Listen to NPR Maloof link sent to me from my Design Professor of 30 years ago, Mr John Belt.

Wendell Castle Interview - Part 2

Here's the conclusion to our time with Wendell Castle. We dive in again and touch all aspects of his career. Starting where we left off at "Extreme" to how he uses the digital world in his work today. Wendell in passing even mentions the weak dollar and its effect on his building.

I hope you enjoy the conclusion as much as I enjoyed preparing us for Wendell Castle. 

Remember, Wendell Castle showed us how to look at furniture differently. So whether we are designing a Delaware Valley interpretation of Chippendale or entering the Design Process intent on a personal build..... look differently and move the target back!!!!!!

Neil

Formats available: Quicktime (.mov), Flash Video (.flv)

Wendell Castle Interview - Part 1

This is a very important interview for the furniture design and woodworking community as a whole with Wendell Castle.

Those of you who follow the blog are prepared for this interview. You have been exposed to his web site, gone through his design process, and I have built a piece inspired by Castle in stack and bent lamination, techniques that Castle brought to the forefront in pushing furniture design. This interview is the culmination of presenting to you, a very important figure in our craft.

We all know Maloof, Nakishima, and Carpenter, but it was Wendell Castle who pushed the boundaries of art and furniture. And one of the original 5 to open the Smithsonians', Renwick Gallery.

Enjoy part 1 of the interview, I'm excited to be with Wendell, and we go into areas other individuals wouldn't know how to get to.

Prior to our sit-down, Mr Castle menioned he didn't know the answers to many of my questions, but that's OK, lets just go somewhere. What a great opportunity this approach provided me and it played out to the max.

Enjoy.................. history will prove this interview to be very important.

Neil

Formats available: Quicktime (.mov)

My Design Process inspired by: a Wendell Castle Build

This is my entry into the Fine Woodworking Maple Build-off Challenge. Come along for a trip down my design process on this multi-functional piece of furniture.

Gigi calls it: "Morning Coffee and a Crossword" the piece is her crossword puzzle work station. Is the unit a lighting fixture? an end table? a magazine rack?, it's all three.

Learn more of Wendell Castle and investigate the genius of Achille Castiglioni.

And let me know what you think of this Wendell Castle inspired, functional sculpture.

ENJOY!!!!!!

Here's the Popular Woodworking Blog post seeking your work.

Formats available: Quicktime (.mov)

Mollino, Wendell Castle and the Rough Cut Forum

So the motto over at the “Rough Cut Forum” is “less type-type, more chop-chop” and that’s meaningful to me. I’ve cleared some time, because I’ve been “chop-chop’in”.

When you are a builder, in our case in wood, each endeavor, demands laser beam focus. A bit of self evaluation has me noticing that I post more when my work is completed and I’m transitioning, a very good trait for a building woodworker. I get notes from the guys over in T-Mac’s Forum telling me to get “chop, chop’in” on Carlo.

Well yesterday, I put Carlo back in focus, along with a Wendell Castle inspired piece. The 2 pieces are in good phase right now, gluing-up on one and sculpting on the other is a nice mix. We’ll see alot of Carlo and peak-in on the Castle piece.

I’ve also taken on the nighttime challenge of being a part in the first that I know of, Furniture: Internet Classroom Blog Build.

Tommy MacDonald (AKA: Chizz, T-Chisel, T-Mac, Big-T) of Rough Cut Fame, with Al and a North Bennett Street School student, Eli Cleveland, have produced an internet woodworking podcast curriculum taking those interested through the building elements of the Federal Period. Yesterday we got our first look at the project, the forum, gives T-Mac a good chiseling and calls it the Crazy Leg table, but I see it as a great marketing tool. Which leg do you prefer?? Would you like satin wood or lace wood in the drawer front??? The bellflowers are an expensive option; would you like to include those????

T-Mac’s design has those building and those watching; making 4 different style legs’ of the Period, bellflower inlay, sand shading edges, making inlay banding, cockbeading and a top decorated with all kinds of inlay elements of the Federal Period. T-Mac’s thinking is that once the forum is exposed to the Federal Period, a Pembroke table, Demilune table and such, could be the next project. The project presentation will be geared towards evening shop time.

For those of you unaware, the Rough Cut forum is what I term, a “building or working forum”, not many posts show after 8am or before 6pm. That may change as the build gets underway. What I like about the forum is nobody tries to dominate knowing everybody on the forum is very knowledgeable and each woodworker has something to offer. After all the tag line is….. “a podcast for the serious woodworker”.

If you are interested in period furniture, or like me believe there is nothing wrong with “Mona Lisa’s Mustache” after all; I have done a Chippendale top in mica and metal and see value in mixing periods, jump into the Rough Cut Forum build or just watch the podcasts. There’s positive energy to feel and it should be interesting to be a part.

As for our blog…….. expect a lot of Carlo, peaks at my Castle inspired piece, an ICFF interview, and a visit into the shop of David Ebner who is presenting at this years Furniture Society Conference. That video is shot, I’m scheduled to shoot another Furniture Society player April 10th.


“less type-type……more chop-chop”………Neil

GO TO: Rough Cut Forum