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Design Classics

Design Classics

10 Things You Need To Know About…. Bauhaus

15th October 2019
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brno chair by ludwig mies van der rohe in 1930 via knoll

Before you start reading this new series, I know that some of you haven’t received the daily email update that a new post has been published. It didn’t go at all on Monday morning and was sent manually at about 9pm. This morning it went to some people and not others. It’s being investigated and…

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Design Classics

Design Classics: The Roberts Radio

24th October 2018
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My Grandmother had one, and so, possibly, did yours. The Roberts transistor radio, with its leather case, was the classic radio of the Sixties. It was designed by Leslie Bidmead, who went into a business partnership with Harry Roberts in 1932. The RT1 was, according to company lore, based on the shape of Mrs Bidmead’s…

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365 Objects Of Design, Design Classics

Warren Platner Side Table by Knoll

10th November 2016
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We’re all aware of the January sales when you can pick up a sofa for a song or snag a bargain fridge freezer but every November there is another sale. One that only the diehards know about. Yet the prices can be reduced by up to 70 percent. It is the Knoll annual sample sale…

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Design Classics

The Tale of the Rock Star and the Shelf

25th September 2013
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This is a tale about a rock star (albeit a slightly ageing one) and a shelf (or rather a shelving system). It happened a couple of years ago, but is no less relevant for that. So the ARS (as he shall henceforth be known) rang me from his summer hideout, where he was, if truth…

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Design Classics

Design Classics #45: Barber Wilsons Taps

27th March 2013
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This classic tap is designed by Barber Wilsons This classic tap is found in homes up and down the country. It even has a place in at least one of the Royal Palaces, as the company, which was founded in 1905, holds a royal warrant to supply kitchen taps and bathroom mixers to HM the…

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Design Classics

Design Classics #44: Safari Chair

13th March 2013
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This chair was inspired by a picture in a travel guide to Africa and has been a design classic since it first appeared in 1933. Kaare Klint was inspired by a British Officer’s chair he had seen in a travel guide for Africa. Apparently, he particularly liked the picture in which the author of the…

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Design Classics

Design Classics #43: Artek Stool

27th February 2013
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Created in 1933 by the Finnish designer Alvar Aalto, this quintessentially functional piece of furniture celebrates its 80th anniversary this year. The simple stool, which has become a design classic, is recognisable by its distinctive bent legs and round seat. This style would eventually become the feature of all Aalto furniture. There is also a…

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Design Classics

Design Classics #42: Ernest Race BA3 Chair

4th December 2012
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Ernest Race was one of Britain’s most successful and inventive furniture designers.  This chair was one of his first productions for his company Race Furniture and was first exhibited at the Victoria and Albert Museum’s morale-boosting exhibition ‘Britain Can Make It’  in 1946. The chair, which has been re-issued from the archives, has now returned to…

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Design Classics

Design Classics #41: Eileen Gray Side Table E1027

20th November 2012
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Named after Eileen Gray’s summer house in Maison en Bord de Mer at Roquebrune Cap Martin, which she built for herself and her collaborator Jean Badovici, the name E1027 is in code. E is for Eileen, 10 for Jean (J is the 10th letter of the alphabet), 2 for B(adovici) and 7 for G(ray). This simple height…

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Design Classics

Design Classics #40: Florence Knoll Sofa

13th November 2012
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As a pioneer of the Knoll Planning Unit, Florence Knoll created what she modestly referred to as the “fill-in pieces that no one else wants to do.” She referred to her own line of lounge seating as the equivalent of “meat and potatoes,”  adding, “I needed the piece of furniture for a job and it wasn’t there, so I designed…

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