Arne Jacobsen

Arne Jacobsen was a Danish architect and designer in the tradition of the “Danish Modern” style. Jacobsen got his degree in 1927 from the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen. Many of his furniture designs have become classics. He is also credited for designing flatware some of which, his right and left spoons, were used in Stanley Kubrick's film 2001:A Space Odyssey.



The Ant chair and the very recognizable Egg chair are just two examples of his furniture work.


He is also known for his bent plywood design the Model 3107 chair (or “Number 7” chair), which is purported to have sold over 5 million copies.



Perhaps the most famous use of the Number 7 chair was in the photograph taken by Lewis Morley in 1963 of Christine Keeler. Christine Keeler, for those of you who were not around in the 1960’s, was involved in bringing down the British government of Harold Macmillion in what is now known as the Profumo Affair. You can look up the details at your leisure. Lewis used the Number 7 chair, in this now famous photograph, to hide some of the assets Keeler used to entice Profumo. The photograph propelled the Jacobsen Model 3107 chair to stardom and use as a prop in similar photographs.


This image is © Lewis Morley Archive / National Portrait Gallery, London.

Pavel Janak

Pavel Janak was a pioneer of the Czech cubist movement who studied under Otto Wagner from 1906 and 1908. While he dealt mostly with architectural designs he was also well regarded among woodworking circles for his well crafted and interesting angular furniture. He is also known for his scathing articles on modernist architecture claiming that "only through the violence and disruption of an angled plane cutting through horizontal and vertical lines could you animate lifeless matter and create structures bursting with dynamic energy." Pavel was influenced by his teacher Otto Wagner as well as Picasso and the cubist painters. Aside from making furniture for private collectors and architectural design, Janak also created many famous designs for Artel a company that was founded in Prague in 1908. Artel was comprised of several prominent figures of the Czech art scene who came together to design and manufacture “minor art for everyday use” — decorative items for everyday use such as coffee sets and furniture. Janak's coffee sets were famous for their modernist use of the "zigzag" pattern, and his white geometric "diamond" box is often brought up as a perfect example of Czech cubist movement.


I found the chairs to be very interesting and dynamic. While i appreciate the sharp diagonals i would never incorporate a similar design into a table because i don't feel that i have the technical expertise available to do so just yet.

wood trip

Are there any wood groups who have aligned yet? I am going this weekend, and I don't care what kind of wood my table will be made out of (just as long as it is not too expensive). Anyone who would like to purchase wood with me can leave a comment. I have a truck for easy transport.

Dave

eyeballing game

test your ability to eyeball angles, points and distances.

I found this via Core77 and gave the game a shot, its actually pretty fun. My score was a 3.68, gonna give it another shot in a bit (with a real mouse). Let me know how you guys do?

Also check out the rest of this guys site, apparently he's a big woodworking buff and he has soome great tutorials on joints and fun woodworking projects available.

Dell Search Results

Dell Search Results: "design : cosmology: September 2008
Olbrich was a student of Otto Wagner, a famous Austrian architect. In May of
1897, Olbrich, Wagner, and others founded the Vienna Sucession, an independent
...
http://designcosmology.blogspot.com/2008_09_01_archive.html - 282k - Cached"

PDFs

Hello Folks.
I just sent an email to the whole class with a bunch of PDF attachments of table plans (thanks for finding them, Ann.)
George: your email came back saying your mailbox is full.
OK
Happy Spring Break.
-Shannon

Arts and Crafts Furniture Materials and Craftsmanship

Arts and Craft was a movement that grew in reaction to industrialization of manufacturing over craft and quality of the product and the machine over the worker. They promote skilled handwork as the ideal and the majority of designs put on display the hand of the crafts person. Joinery and handwork became the centerpiece and signature of the design and style. This was expressed from exposed joinery typically associated with American A&C to the European A&C that usually high the workmanship though still used mortise and tenon construction. To give some detail ideas for our tables I have included some examples here that show the range of expression of the prominent furniture designers that came out of this movement.

The founders believed in style that supported the local community and their traditions. That meant most designers worked with local woods and custom made hardware. In Europe and the US that often meant oak or ash as the preferred choice.

Image information:
The illustration at the top is a Corbel (or bracket used as decoration often by Stickley and Mission style designer) acting as a tusk for a through tenon.
The black cabinet could work as a table style without its top. This an example of the Glasgow Style designed by Mackintosh.
The big table is an example of the work done by Liberty and Company in London.
The side table is designed by Limbert Company which used machinery and mass production more heavily than the ideal but the owner Charles Limbert was well known for his designs. I thought this table might work as a knock down design like someone wanted to make in class.
The first image is done in the Mackintosh style Greene and Greene images: 2008from Popular Wood Working Online Extra October 2008 - They also have free access to Google’s Sketchup CAD online program and numerous designs
The main resource here and the rest of the images came from "Arts and Crafts Furniture, from Classic to Contemporary" by Rodel and Binzen