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Evolution of Designer Scandinavian Furniture

From the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe there once came a wave of Modernist-style designed Scandinavian furniture, as the region embraced the design type as a whole. By this, we don’t mean to suggest that Scandinavian furniture was anywhere near uniform throughout the countries that make up its members, but rather, each nation brought to the table a unique design type. Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark and Iceland offered a multifaceted style of Modernism in furniture that would take the rest of the world by storm with riveting, svelte design forms.


Brief History of Scandinavian Design

Much of Scandinavian design pre-1900 was focused around the traditional crafts areas, and generally centered on local national folklore, and other natural inspirations. Drawing on the full length and breadth of their cultural wealth we would see that the Scandinavian nations each had distinct approach, such as the Norwegian embrace of Viking revival imagery.

As some Nordic nations embraced Art Nouveau, some new ideas that would come to the fore later on, began to manifest themselves. One such that we can’t but help stress the importance of, traces its roots back to this period and is the idea that the masses should benefit from affordable, yet tasteful, design, instead of merely the rich and famous. Since then, this one guiding principle has been often viewed as a backbone of Scandinavian furniture and design.

Throughout most of its history, Scandinavian design has constantly revolved around practicality and its growth as a major Modernist design influence did not alter that. We can’t tell when exactly Scandinavian design became known as a unit, rather than the sum of its distinct nation-parts, however, today, it is a common enough term to denote the unique designs from the Nordic nations.


Evolution of Principles within Furniture

Despite hailing from different origins, Scandinavian furniture as a whole has been thought to have strikingly similar qualities that are said to be based on ideological similarities. Ever since the rise of Modernism and the major influence the Nordic nations played within the design form, they have constantly been associated with their very own style of humanist Modernism, one that we can’t help but notice.

Other unifying ideas that are also tied along to Scandinavian furniture and design style are those of modesty, quietude, purposefulness and moderation. Also, the eternal quest for perfectionism, and the driving desire to find the ‘ideal form’ cuts across the borders of the nations. Through this careful and thoughtful approach, came the eventual reputation of Scandinavian furniture to be long lasting and of high quality, though we feel that it probably first came into being in relation to Danish furniture in particular.

By containing their quest for ideal forms within a practicality and humanist framework, gradually Nordic furniture has progressed forward with new, and sometimes revolutionary, designs. At the same time however, there are still ‘classics’ in terms of furniture design that some remain true too, due to their timeless elegance, and sterling quality.

Today, Scandinavian furniture covers a variety of forms and styles, but despite these differences, they are still guided by the principles and ideas that have hallmarked the region for many years. We can’t say exactly what path Scandinavian furniture may take as it continues to develop, and evolve, but what we do know for sure is that it should be enthralling nonetheless.

A glimpse into the history of Egyptian furniture

A glimpse into the history of Egyptian Furniture



The typical Egyptian house had sparse furnishings by modern standards. Wood was quite scarce, so largefurniture items were not common. By far the most common pieces of furniture were small 3 and 4 leg stools and fly catchers. Stools have been found in common houses as well as in Pharaohs’ tombs. Other items of utilitarian furniture include clay ovens, jars, pots, plates, beds, oil lamps, and small boxes or chests for storing things.

The ever present stool was made from wood, and had a padded leather or woven rush seat. The stools’ 3 or 4 legs were very often carved to look like animal legs. Wealthy people had their stools and all furniture in general was richly decorated with gold or silver leaf. The more common people would have things painted to look more expensive than they were.

The Egyptian bed was a rectangular wooden frame with a mat of woven cords. Instead of using pillows, the Egyptians used a crescent-shaped headrest at one end of the bed. Cylindrical clay ovens were found in almost every kitchen, and the food was stored in large wheel-made clay pots and jars. For common people, food was eaten from clay plates, while the rich could afford bronze, silver, or gold plates. The ruling class also commonly had a throne chair with a square back inlaid with ebony and ivory. Almost everyone also had a chest for storing clothing and a small box for jewelry and cosmetics. Walls were painted, and leather wall hangings were also used. Floors were usually decorated with clay tiles.



More is known about furniture in Egypt than anywhere else in the ancient world. By the New Kingdom, Egyptian furniture was highly prized and was often sent as tribute to the rulers of neighbouring countries. Fragments of Egyptian furniture have been excavated at sites around Western Asia.


Many Predynastic burials in the Nile valley have the body placed on wooden poles and covered with a matting made of plant fibre while some burials are found in primitive wooden boxes. By the unification of Upper and Lower Egypt we find bed frames were in common use with many examples being found in 1st dynasty (3100-2890 BC) tombs. The quality of these bed frames ranged from conveniently shaped branches that were lashed together, to sophisticated examples made from rounded poles that were jointed together and supported on finely carved bovine shaped legs.

At the beginning of the Old Kingdom, which opens with the 3rd dynasty (2686-2613BC), we see major advances in building and the associated trade of carpentry. The quality of royal furniture made during this period can be seen in those examples discovered by the American Egyptologist George Reisner, in the 4th dynasty tomb of Queen Hetepheres (c 2600 BC) at Giza. When he opened the tomb, he found that the wooden elements from which the furniture had been made had rotted away to powder. However, it proved possible to reconstruct much of the Queen's furniture by studying the positions of the gold sheaths, which had encased the furniture, and the inlays that had fallen free and lay on the tombs floor. Hetepheres' furniture consisted of two armchairs, bed frame, bed canopy, carrying chair and two boxes. What Reisner and his team achieved, from what appeared to be a pile of unrelated fragments of gold and faience, is remarkable for it has given us a small but superb collection of early furniture which rivals Tutankhamun's which was manufactured over a thousand years later.


We see the introduction of the wooden box at the end of the Old Kingdom. They were manufactured with flat, gable, barrel and shrine shaped lids. Some were very large and were designed with a pair of poles that enabled the box to be carried by a team of porters. In one tomb scene we see such a box being carried by fourteen men. During the Middle Kingdom we find boxes were customised to hold cosmetics. Many were designed like crates to hold small alabaster jars which held perfumed oils. Other boxes have been found to contain mirrors, kohl containers, combs and even a pair of slippers! A box made for Sithathoriunet (c 1800 BC) was decorated with gold fittings and bezels in which were set polished carnelian stones. Other elaborate boxes held jewellery, these were usually inlaid or veneered with sheets of ivory or exotic timbers bought from lands south of Egypt. Scribes even had boxes in which they stored their writing implements and palette. Their boxes were usually painted to imitate the stringing and veneered panels found on more ornate boxes.


Important directional changes in Middle Kingdom furniture can be seen by studying the large collection of stelae which are preserved in the Egyptian Museum, Cairo. These Middle Kingdom stelae show that tables were widely used for the display of vases or holding water pots. Many are low with straight legs and have a single stretcher strung below the table top. We also see that Egyptian carpenters were constructing splay legged tables which had cavetto cornice mouldings below the edge of the table top. Slender vase stands were made from thin strips of timber braced with cross and angled struts. They were fitted with a shaped collar which held the round base of a single vase. They were covered with a gesso foundation before being painted to imitate carnelian and faience inlay. Those chairs made during the Middle Kingdom had either short backs over which was draped a cover or cushion or they had backs of full height. Such chair backs were curved and made from angled slats of timber. We see that they stood on slender gazelle-shaped legs. Often chairs were painted to simulate animal skin which were painted with a technique which resembles cow skin and was used on an arrow quiver case which is preserved in the Egyptian Museum, Cairo.



By the New Kingdom, the homes of officials and nobles would have been furnished with a wide range of furniture, the most common of which would have been the stool. Egyptians used a large number of different types of stool. The most commonly used were lattice stools that were made from thin struts of timber with angled braces supporting a double cove seat. Round legged stools appear in some of the more important Theban tombs. The majority of legs from these stools were hand rounded although there is a small corpus of material which have legs that appear to be turned ( see Research and News page ). During the New Kingdom we see carpenters sitting on three legged stools which allowed the stool to rest evenly on the workshop floor. The folding stool originates in the Middle Kingdom and was made from two interlocking frames with a leather seat. New Kingdom examples are more elaborate having the floor rails and crossing spindles finished with carved goose head terminals which are inlaid with ivory to imitate the eyes and neck feathers. We also see that lion legged stools and chairs were used in the homes of high ranking officials.

The furniture manufactured in the royal workshops were not very different in design to that used by the middle classes. However, they were exquisitely embellished with gold sheet, inlaid with coloured stones and faience or veneered with ebony and ivory. They were also adorned with the uraeus and the symbols of kingship. Other pieces are inlaid with thousands of slivers of coloured wood in either marquetry or parquetry patterns. In the tomb of Yuya and Tuyu (c 1400BC), the parents of Queen Tiy and the wife of Amenhotep III (1390-1352 BC), was discovered a small armchair made for Princess Sitamun.

Art Deco Furniture

Art Deco Furniture

The "Art Deco" period occurred roughly between the two World Wars, or from 1920 to 1939. Many actually stretch this period from 1900 to the 1950s, but, as with many other art movements, even work of today is still being influenced by the past. The Art Deco period did not just affect architecture, but all of the fine and applied arts. Furniture, sculpture, clothing, jewelry, and graphic design were all influenced by the Art Deco style.

After the First World War there were great social changes which influenced the kinds of furniture required. There was also an emphasis, for those who could afford it, on well-designed decorative furniture which also included a high degree of functionality.

Amongst Art Deco designers there were two clear schools: the first was the direct inheritor of the two earlier movements. These designers concentrated on individual pieces made by highly skilled craftsmen and could only be bought by the very rich. On the other hand, some Art Deco designers sought to take advantage of mass production. These designers also tended towards a severely geometric look which emphasised the functionality of the object.

At the start of the Art Deco Movement, furniture was based on traditional styles but opulence was the keynote. Exotic woods like amboyna were used and decoration incorporated materials like ivory. These were the objects that were designed as objects of fine art as well as for functionality. By the mid 1920s the taste for such flamboyant furniture was waning. Modern materials like chrome were incorporated into the designs and they became more geometric and streamlined. It was at this time that René Lalique was making glass panels to be used in furniture.

Many of the Art Deco furniture designers had distinctive styles of their own and their work is now highly valued and very collectable.

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (1886-1969)
His famous dictum 'less is more' is the perfect description of Mies van der Rohe's work in both his architecture and furniture design. He was born in Aachen, Germany, where his first job was in his family's stone carving business. In 1908 he started work with the architect Peter Behrens, one of the great figures in German Modernism.

Mies van der Rohe's furniture combines a modern, machine made look with a detailed hand-finished approach. The furniture is made from steel and is very simple and elegant in form. One of his most famous pieces, the Barcelona Chair first shown in 1929, is still in production today. This chair's basic form is a distorted X with leather upholstered seat and back. It was only mass produced after the Second World War and so the pre-war examples are worth many times more than the later ones.

Jacques-Emile Ruhlmann (1879-1933)
Ruhlmann is considered to be the outstanding Art Deco furniture designer although some of his best work was done before the 1925 Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes, the exhibition in Paris that gave Art Deco its name.

Ruhlmann started as a painter and drew furniture in his father's workshop. His furniture making techniques were flawless. Joints could barely be discerned, giving pieces the impression of being made from a single carved section of wood. He used exotic woods like amboyna, violetwood and macassar ebony but in tasteful and simple designs. Even by the time of his first exhibition at the Salon d'Automne in 1913 his reputation was high. After the First World War he took over his father's company which was renamed Rulhmann et Laurent. He increased the company's scope by employing crafts people skilled in carpentry, upholstery, mirror grinding, veneering and inlaying.

The company never catered for the mass market. Its furniture was exclusive and distinguished by its elegance, long tapering legs and simple use of exotic materials. For all its elegance, the furniture was designed to be used and to be comfortable. Form and design served to enhance the use of the furniture.

Süe and Mare
In 1919 Louis Süe, an artist and architect, and André Mare, also an artist, formed the Compagnie des Arts Français. Its purpose was to make French furniture without foreign influences. They aimed to provide not only furniture but, by the use of outside contractors, a whole range of furnishings.

Their furniture was heavier and more flamboyant than that of Ruhlmann. They used inlays and veneers to create dramatic designs, patterns and pictures on their furniture. Although they were much admired and influential, their technique was no where near as good as Ruhlmann's and much of their furniture has not survived.

Wiener Werkstätte
The Vienna Workshops were established in 1903 in Austria, long before Art Deco was an established movement. Founded by architect, Josef Hoffman, it consisted of a group of innovative artists and craftspeople who were experimenting with new designs and materials. Within ten years of setting up, they had opened branches in a number of foreign cities including Berlin, Zurich and New York.

They based their work upon high standards of design and workmanship, rejecting all mass production. Their work shows ancient Egyptian and Cubist influences and they were also influenced by the Glasgow Four who included Charles Rennie Mackintosh.

Transitional Furniture

Transitional Furniture

The transitional furniture phase began as people got tired of the old(traditional furniture) and the new(modern furniture), which created a whole new group of transitional enthusiast. There are those that fight straight tradition and eschew the trendiest of the trendy. They prefer to be free of the tethers that define country style. For these unique souls, there is one place to flee for creative sanctuary, the diverse furniture style known as Transitional. The label "transitional" can cause confusion for some. Transitional walks the line between traditional and modern or contemporary furniture, with lines that are less ornate than traditional styles but not as severely basic as modern or contemporary lines.



Consequently, transitional furniture is no single extreme, but a harmonic blend of styles that can be adapted to an individual's preference as illustrated in the picture on the left by Bob and Mitchell Gold(www.mgbwhome.com). Comfort and practicality are key aspects to transitional furniture, with many pieces made to meet the demands of the active household. Durable materials found in this type of furniture include contemporary media like metal and glass, but also sophisticated, lush fabrics. Within the elegant curves of this style are two sub-categories:

Eclectic style furniture borrows from several furniture styles freely. A cluttered, disjointed look is avoided by unifying color or textures.
Casual furniture is classically inspired with today's family in mind. It's comfy and perfect for entertaining friends and family without formal airs.

Inspiration for Modern Furniture at Cozy

The word "Modern" has a lot of meanings, all referring to TODAY(the modern world). Modern furniture was born from people who were curious for a change of tommorow. Modern furniture refers to furniture produced from the late 19th century through the present that is influenced by modernism. It was a tremendous departure from all furniture design that had gone before it. Dark or gilded carved wood and richly patterned fabrics gave way to the glittering simplicity and geometry of polished metal. The forms of furniture evolved from visually heavy to visually light.



Influences

Prior to the modernist design movement there was an emphasis on furniture as ornament, the length of time a piece took to create was often a measure of its value and desirability. During the first half of the 20th Century a new philosophy emerged shifting the emphasis to function and accessibility. Western design generally, whether architectural or design of furniture had for millennia sought to convey an idea of lineage, a connection with tradition and history. The modern movement sought newness, originality, technical innovation, and ultimately the message that it conveyed spoke of the present and the future, rather than of what had gone before it.
Modernist design seems to have evolved out of a combination of influences: Technically innovative materials and manufacturing methods, the new philosophies that emerged from the Werkbund and the Bauhaus School, from exotic foreign influences, from Art Nouveau and from the tremendous creativity of the artists and designers of that era.

Materials
The use of new materials, such as steel in its many forms; molded plywood, such as that used by Charles and Ray Eames; and of course plastics, were formative in the creation of these new designs. They would have been considered pioneering, even shocking in contrast to what came before. This interest in new and innovative materials and methods - produced a certain blending of the disciplines of technology and art. And this became a working philosophy among the members of the Deutscher Werkbund. The Werkbund was a government sponsored organization to promote German art and design around the world. Many of those involved with it including Mies van Der Rohe, Lilly Reich and others, were later involved in the Bauhaus School, and so it is not surprising perhaps that the Bauhaus School took on the mantle of this philosophy. They evolved a particular interest in using these new materials in such a way that they might be mass produced and therefore make good design more accessible to the masses.

African and Asian culture
An aesthetic preference for the baroque and the complex was challenged not only by new materials and the courage and creativity of a few Europeans, but also by the growing access to African and Asian design. In particular the influence of Japanese design is legend: in the last years of the 19th Century the Edo Period in Japan, Japanese isolationist policy began to soften, and trade with the west began in ernest. The artifacts that emerged were striking in their simplicity, their use of solid planes of color without ornament, and contrasting use of pattern. A tremendous fashion for all things Japanese - Japonism - swept Europe. Some say that the western Art Nouveau movement emerged from this influence directly. Designers such as Charles Rennie MacIntosh and Eileen Gray are known for both their modern and Art Deco work, and they and others like Frank Lloyd Wright are notable for a certain elegant blending of the two styles.

Iconic examples of modern furniture

Marcel Breuer's Wassily Chair
This modernist creation is perhaps one of the most iconic furniture designs of all times. The Wassily Chair, also known as the Model B3 chair, was designed by Marcel Breuer in 1925-26 while he was the head of the cabinet-making workshop at the Bauhaus, in Dessau, Germany. The design of the chair is most interesting in that it is a symmetrical abstraction of wafer thin, geometric planes that appears to be suspended in space. The magic of this is sublime design is to be primarily attributed to Breuer's ingenious use of lightweight tubular steel and minimalist leather straps.

Eileen Gray side table


Designed in 1927 as a bedside table for the guest room in E-1027, the home she designed for herself (and Jean Badovici) in Cap Martin, France, the asymmetry of this piece is characteristic of her "non-conformist" design style in her architectural projects and furniture. Notably, this piece also has specific utility, as it can be adjusted such that one can eat breakfast in bed on it. Gray's sister had requested such accommodation during her visits to E-1027.

Barcelona chair


The Barcelona chair has come to represent the Bauhaus design movement. Many consider it to be functional art, rather than just furniture. Designed by Mies Van Der Rohe and Lilly Reich in 1929 for an international design fair in Barcelona, it is said to have been inspired by both the folding chairs of the Pharaohs, and the 'X' shaped footstools of the Romans, and dedicated to the Spanish royal family.

Noguchi coffee table




Isamu Noguchi 1904 - 1988 was a sculptor, architect, furniture and landscape designer. Half American, half Japanese, he is famous for his organic modern forms. The Noguchi Coffee Table - has become famous for its unique and unmistakable simplicity. Refined and at the same time natural, it is one of the most sought after pieces associated with the modern classic furniture movement.

Chronology
Chronologically the design movement that produced modern furniture design, began earlier than one might imagine. Many of its most recognizable personalities were born at the end of the 19th or the very beginning of the 20th centuries.
Marcel Breur 1902–1981
Ludwig Mies van der Rohe 1886–1969
Eileen Gray 1878–1976
Le Corbusier 1887–1965 (born Charles Edouard Jeanneret)
Lilly Reich 1885–1947
Walter Gropius 1883–1969
They were teaching and studying in Germany and elsewhere in the 1920s and 30s. At among other places the Bauhaus school of art and architecture. The furniture that was produced during this era is today known as "Modern Classic Furniture" or "Mid Century Modern".
Both the Bauhaus School and the Werkbund, had as their specific creative emphasis the blending of technology, new materials and art.

Transitional furniture

Obviously not all furniture produced since this time is modern, for there is still a tremendous amount of traditional design being reproduced for today's market and then of course there is also an entire breed of design which sits between the two, and is referred to as transitional design. Neither entirely modern or traditional, it seeks to blend elements of multiple styles. It often includes both modern and traditional as well as making visual reference to classical Greek form and / or other non western styles (for example: Tribal African pattern, Asian scroll work etc).

Modern to contemporary













Today contemporary furniture designers and manufacturers continue to evolve design. Still seeking new materials, with which to produce unique forms, still employing simplicity and lightness of form, in preference to heavy ornament.

And most of all they are still endeavoring to step beyond what has gone before to create entirely new visual experiences for us.
The designs that prompted this paradigm shift were produced in the middle of the 20th century, most of them well before 1960. And yet they are still regarded internationally as symbols of the modern age, the present and perhaps even the future. Modern Classic Furniture became an icon of elegance and sophistication.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modern_furniture