Posts Tagged ‘exotic woods’

ART NOUVEAU CHAIRS: UPHOLSTERED ARMCHAIR, LAYERED WOOD CHAIR, SLAT-BACK ARMCHAIR, BENTWOOD SIDE CHAIR, UPHOLSTERED ARMCHAIR, CANED-SEAT ARMCHAIR, CURVED DESK CHAIR

ART NOUVEAU CHAIRS

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WHEN  IT CAME TO the chair, Art
Nouveau designers let their imaginations run wild. Designers from Glasgow to Nancy used the chair to illustrate and promote the Art Nouveau ideal.
Breaking free from traditional methods of design and construction, designers experimented with flowing, abstract shapes influenced by nature, and bending or elongating wood into sculptural pieces.
The Scottish architect Charles Rennie Mackintosh left an indelible mark on Art Nouveau furniture, especially with his ground-breaking chair designs. Well proportioned with attenuated backs imparting an almost ecclesiastical appearance, his cube-based chairs decorated with geometric cut-out patterns were influential, especially on designers
working in Germany    Austria, who embraced this more linear approach.
The French strand of Art Nouveau produced a contrasting style. with its sinuous, organic. fluid chair designs which were made by Louis Majorelle and Hector Guimard in exotic woods. These were often lavishly decorated with intricate inlays, marquetry. and carved botanical motifs on top rails, legs, and aprons.
A taste for the exotic also provided another decorative and extremely influential outlet in chairs – from Japanese and Moorish-inspired designs to bizarre seat furniture created by Carlo Bugatti and Antoni Gaudi using a variety of materials. Bugatti and Gaudi used imaginative combinations of wood and metals, embellished with materials such as leather, vellum, and silk.

The curves on this piece were achieved using the bentwood technique.
Aluminium nails decorate the replaced leather seat and back.
The beech frame is stained the colour of mahogany.
UPHOLSTERED ARMCHAIR
This chair is constructed from bent beechwood stained the colour of mahogany. The curved shape was achieved by steaming the wood, then applying even pressure. The prolific architect and founder of the Vienna Secession, J.M. Olbrich, designed this armchair for Thonet of Vienna. c1902.

ARMCHAIR
This mahogany armchair has an upholstered crest, a slat back and carved arms. The seat and back panel are upholstered in velvet. The slat back forms a back leg and the piece
terminates in bun feet. c. 1900.
LAYERED WOOD CHAIR
This is one of a set of four chairs made in the style of the early Vienna Secession. The chair is made of cut beechwood and layered wood which is stained in two shades. The seat is covered in black leather, but is not original. c.1900.
This stained beech and elm chair was probably made by Wylie & Lochhead of Glasgow. The curved top rail sits above three splats. The seat is inlaid with boxwood lining. The legs are joined by double stretchers that terminate in upholstered, panelled feet. L&T I
This Viennese slat-back armchair is constructed from veneered and polished nut wood massif. The design is accredited to Josef Hoffmann. A low, D-shaped stretcher unites the straight legs near to the base of the chair. c.1905.
ARMCHAIR
SLAT-BACK ARMCHAIR
BENTWOOD CHAIR
This beech chair, made and signed by Austrian manufacturer Thonet, has a flowing bentwood frame made of bent rods, which curves without the use of carving and joints. It has a shaped seat rail and a reversed, heart-shaped back that sweeps below the seat to form stretchers. The triangular seat is made of cane, although it is not original. The chair terminates in three legs. c.1900.

This is one of a pair of side chairs made of oak. The back of the chair has curvilinear rails linking tapering uprights above a drop-in seat.
Square-section, tapering legs terminate in pad feet.
This early J. & J. Kohn side chair was designed by Josef Hoffmann. It has a bentwood back and tapering legs, and there are four wooden spheres under the seat rail. The brown leather
upholstery is tacked on to the seat and back, obscuring the stamped mark.
SIDE CHAIR
BENTWOOD SIDE CHAIR
ARMCHAIR
This is one of a pair of mahogany armchairs designed by J.S. Henry. The tall, upholstered back has sinuous leaf finials, curving open arms, and an upholstered pad seat. The seat is supported on turned and tapering legs linked by an arched stretcher at the front and straight side
stretchers.

MARQUETRY ARMCHAIR
Designed by Louis Majorette, the back splat of this mahogany armchair is decorated in marquetry depicting branch and leaf designs. The chair has moulded “U”-shaped crinoline arms that have distinctive duck’s-head terminals. The seat is upholstered in velvet.
UPHOLSTERED ARMCHAIR
This mahogany armchair, designed by G.M. Ellwood, has a tapering back containing an oval upholstered panel and elegant vertical splats. The piece has open upholstered arms and an upholstered seat. The legs terminate in tassle carved feet.
ARMCHAIR
This stained mahogany armchair features distinctive, wavy, horizontal splats positioned above and below the rectangular panelled back. The downswept, open arms and
upholstered panel seat are raised on turned, tapered legs.
CANED-SEAT ARMCHAIR
This is one of a pair of “Model 511″ chairs by Thonet, constructed from bent beech. The splat is pierced with holes, with parallel slats below. The back continues in a curve down to the feet. The seat is made of woven caning. c.1904.
This mahogany desk chair by Louis Majorelle has open arms featuring galleries of tapered spindles. Red-leather upholstery on the back and scat is fixed to the frame with studs. The twisted form of the legs emphasizes the sinuous, feminine design.
This carved walnut armchair designed by Henri Rapin has a wing back and bold scrolling terminals. The tapering legs lead to splayed spade feet. The heavily patterned upholstery is not original. 1910.
This Louis Majorelle carved mahogany desk chair (part of a desk set) has moulded arms leading into sweeping, reverse-curved supports. The chair has a distinctive, low upholstered back. The front legs are cabriole in shape. c.1903.
This armchair was designed by Josef Maria Olbrich and made by Josef Niedermoser of Vienna. The frame is black-varnished maple, the chair is upholstered with yellow leather covers, and the feet are metal. 1898 99.
DESK CHAIR
OPEN ARMCHAIR
CURVED DESK CHAIR
ARMCHAIR

ART NOUVEAU TABLES: MARQUETRY TWO-TIER TABLE, NEST OF TABLES, MARQUETRY TABLE NEST, PINE WORKBOX, ROSEWOOD STAND, BRASS FRAMED TABLE

ART NOUVEAU TABLES
ART NOUVEAU DESIGNERS transformed
the functional table into works of art, with motifs inspired by the natural world. A table embellished with dragonflies or sculpted leaves, for example, might take on the form of a tree, with its support shaped like a trunk, and feet resembling roots.
Those working in the French and Belgian style of Art Nouveau, such as Louis Majorelle and Emile Galle, created tables with tapering, sinuous legs; serpentine-shaped tops; and carved decoration or marquetry patterns of flower blossoms, trees, or fruit. These were rendered in veneers of precious and exotic woods.
The Glasgow School led by Charles Rennie Mackintosh and other like-minded designers, including Josef Hoffmann and Koloman Moser, offered a radical contrast. They favoured tables with rectangular, geometric proportions, narrow,
elongated lines, and decorative cut-out motifs such as squares and spheres.
In England, tables mirrored historic styles, exotic Japanese or Moorish designs, or favoured simple construction and functional, aesthetic design, as seen in the work of C.F.A. Voysey and Charles Ashbee.
In Spain and Italy, tables were often incorporated into sofas or other pieces of furniture, or had practical features such as built-in cabinets.
The Japanese style was popular with its simple designs, asymmetric forms, undulating lines, use of lacquer or lacquer-look-alikes, and a love of nature, often appearing as typical Japanese motifs such as dragonflies.
Many innovative types of table appeared, such as the tripod, tier, and the nest of tables, while decorative features such as the arched stretcher showed how new techniques pushed wood to limits never seen before.
Raised edges prevent Brass handles enable
items from falling off. the table to be easily moved around the room.
Sculptural design with W-shaped table sides
MARQUETRY TWO-TIER TABLE
This two-tier nutwood and mahogany occasional table by Louis Majorelle is of double-framed construction. It has decorative carving, and each of the two tiers is embellished with floral marquetry. The top tier also has applied brass handles. 1900.
NEST OF TABLES
This nest of four Secessionist, black-lacquered tables is attributed to Josef Hoffmann. Each table has a rectangular top with rounded edges supported by turned, spindle-filled supports leading to platform stretchers. The largest of the four carries two sphere-turned carving handles. The Japanese influence is displayed in both the materials used and the form of this nest.
Floral marquetry table top
MARQUETRY TABLE NEST
This nest of four occasional tables wasdesigned
fined by Emile Galle. They are constructed from mahogany and various other hardwoodswith
high-grade veneer. The tops and side mouldings of the tables are supported by
frames with elegant scroll curves at the bases. Each of the rectangular table tops is decorated in marquetry using various fruitwoods with a different floral scene. The largest of the tables bears the signature “Galle” within the marquetry. c.1900.
BEECH TABLE NEST
This nest of four “968″ tables is made of beech. They were designed by Josef Hoffmann and produced by J. & J. Kohn of Vienna (see .c.376). The tables are raised on slender, tapering legs, joined on three sides by stretchers. The
largest of the tables has handles and trellis splats on the sides. Each of the smaller units slides into place on runners, which store the tables in a hanging position. The table nest has a mahogany stain and the remains of an original paper label underneath. 1905.
This table, designed by Louis Majorelle, is known as les Goings, meaning quinces. Constructed from walnut, the tops of the legs and the apron boards carry deep-carved decoration depicting
quince fruits on the branch. 1905.
This French tea table, from the Ecole de Nancy, is constructed from walnut, brass, and glass. It has a tray top with a raised edge to prevent items falling off. Below the tray top is an additional shelf with fold-down sides. These offer more table space but can be folded
away when not in use. c. 1900.
PINE WORKBOX
FRETWORK OCCASIONAL TABLE
ROSEWOOD STAND
This J.S. Henry occasional table has a shaped top above an elaborate fretwork frieze. It is supported on slender, tapering, cabriole legs with pad feet that are linked by a lower tier. The maker’s label is still attached.
This stained pine artist’s workbox is from the Scottish School. The rectangular top has a twin-hinged lid, which opens to reveal an interior fitted with compartments for materials. The pegs used for joining are visible at the sides.
This rare rosewood and marquetry stand was designed by Emile GaII6. The lobed top is inlaid with floral decoration and butterfly motifs. The four moulded legs are united by an elegant arched stretcher.
This small Austrian bentwood three-tier table is designed in the manner of Josef Hoffmann. It has a rounded square top supported on splayed legs. Two undertiers with wooden balls at the joints provide additional storage.
THREE-TIER TABLE
HEXAGONAL TABLE
GILT SIDE TABLE
BRASS FRAMED TABLE
TILED OCCASIONAL TABLE
Originally sold by Liberty & Co., this hexagonal table has a moulded top raised above square, tapering legs, which are linked by distinctive pierced stretchers halfway up the legs. The piece terminates in simple, pad feet.
This opulent, giltwood side table with relief-moulded decoration was designed by Louis Majorette. A mottled-orange marble top is set within a leaf-and-berry carved slip, with a wavy frieze below. Arched stretchers link the legs.
The elegant brass tripod of this Richard Muller-designed table bends towards the centre at the top. The plain, circular table top is made from mahogany. Two triangular mahogany tiers provide additional storage. 1902.
This occasional table is made of oak. The circular top features a red and green tiled insert in a geometric pattern. The three tapered supports are pierced with decoration

French Art Nouveau Furniture: DISPLAY CASE, TWO-TIER TABLE, TABLE LAMPS, ROSEWOOD AND WALNUT VITRINE.

FRANCE: THE NANCY SCHOOL
MANY OF THE FINEST WORKS of French
Art Nouveau were created at the Alliance Provincale des Industries d’Art, or Ecole de Nancy, in the province of Lorraine. It was founded in 1901 by the innovative furniture and glass designer Emile Galle, and was based on the example set by the English Arts and Crafts guilds. A design school and workshop that was profoundly influenced by the Symbolist movement in art and literature, the goal of the enterprise was to modernize technical training in both the decorative and applied arts.
The natural world inspired and informed the artists and craftsmen
who gathered around the brilliant Galle at the Ecole de Nancy, and the school gave a coherent identity to the diverse craftsmen working there.
Among those who ran the Nancy school with Galle were some of the finest craftsmen and designers of the day, including Louis Majorelle, Eugene Vallin, Victor Prouve, and the Daum brothers, Auguste and Antonin.
BOTANICAL INSPIRATION
In addition to history of art and Symbolist poetry and literature, Galle’s rich influences included the study of local flora and fauna — cow parsley, thistles, insects, and so on — which
was to furnish him with creative inspiration for shapes as well as decoration. His romantic vision of nature, a delight in plants, animals, and other living creatures, and a passionate faith in the mystery of creation lay at the heart of his most inspired designs.
FURNITURE STYLES
Galle’s emotional connection with the vitality of nature and his love of symbolism resulted in highly original, imaginative furniture that seemed to breathe with life.
Tables and cabinets were made
from richly coloured or exotic woods,
including rosewood, maple, walnut, or fruitwoods such as apple or pear. The pieces stood on carved supports in the shape of dragonfly wings, or boasted cornices featuring carved
creatures such as snails, moths, and bats. Decorative bronze mounts resembled insects, and fruitwood inlays in extravagant compositions depicted natural motifs, including flower blossoms, leaves, fruit, cars of corn, snails, and butterflies.

Many of Galles pieces were unique, and were signed and frequently engraved with verses by Victor Hugo, Paul Verlaine, or Charles Baudelaire.
LOUIS MAJORELLE
The other great furniture designer working at Nancy – Louis Majorelle –turned his back on the Louis XV taste, which had been the staple of many established workshops, and created some of the finest pieces of Art
Giltwood Aubepine table by Louis Majorelle This occasional table has a circular marble top above a moulded gilt frieze. The tapering moulded legs are decorated with foliate carving.
Nouveau furniture. Although his desks, tables, chairs, and bedroom suites lack the symbolic poetry found in the works of Galle, his finely crafted furniture is beautiful in its own right.
Majorelle established several workshops so that he could increase his output. He was a trained cabinetmaker, and although much of his furniture incorporated some machine-made parts, the quality was superb. Majorelle’s furniture was usually made
of dark hardwoods such as mahogany and rosewood, with fluid outlines and massive, sculptural gilt-bronze mounts shaped as orchids or water lilies,
alongside delicately carved, inlaid, or marquetry decoration in fruitwoods, pewter, or mother-of-pearl. He also collaborated with the Daum brothers, who were famous for their glassware, to produce a wide variety of decorative lamps with glass shades and elegant bronze or iron mounts.

ROSEWOOD AND WALNUT VITRINE
This rosewood and walnut vitrine by Emile Gallo is inspired by organic motifs. The upper section has glazed doors with carved foliage surrounds extending to a central support to form a heart motif. The back is decorated with fruitwood leaf-form marquetry. 1900.
ARMCHAIRS
These mahogany chairs by Louis Majorelle have rectangular padded splats, stuff-over arms on unusual, sweeping, reverse-curved supports, and stuff-over seats on moulded legs. This is a graceful variation on the traditional chair style with gently curving lines. c.1900.
This is an unusual pair of glass and bronze lamps made in Nancy by Daum Freres and Louis Majorelle. The tapering, gilded, bronze shaft has a flower motif in high relief and three raised supports for the domed, mushroom-shaped shades. The lamp shades are made of clear flashed glass with powder inclusions in rose, greenish-yellow, and dark violet. They are signed “Daum Nancy” and have a Cross of Lorraine on the rim of the shade. c. 1904.
TABLE LAMPS

Made rom mahogany and makasar, this display case by Louis Majorelle rests on curved diagonal legs. The doors have distinctive blossom ornaments. c.1920.
This rosewood occasional table by Emile GaIle has three out-splayed supports and scroll legs with carved hoof feet. The table is decorated with floral marquetry. c.1900.
This sumptuous, blonde mahogany, goose-design cabinet by Louis Majorelle is decorated with marquetry, pierced wood, and exotic timbers. The piece has pierced side panels, a frieze drawer with bronze goose-head drawer
DISPLAY CASE
NEST OF TABLES
These Emile Galle tables Aux Magnolias are made of fruit- and rootwoods and decorated with magnolia and butterfly design inlays, and carved branch patterns on the legs of the largest tables. c.1900.
TWO-TIER TABLE
ARMCHAIRS
This pair of Marrons d’Inde armchairs by Louis Majorelle have splats with exotic wood marquetry, bent and curved arms, tapering legs, and stuff-over upholstered seats. 1905-10.
Pierced side panels
are decorated
with repeated scrolling motifs.
Bronze drawer pulls are in the shape of goose heads.
The goose motif is continued on the front doors.
GOOSE DESIGN CABINET
pulls, and cupboards inlaid witn exotic wood showing a gaggle of geese. A superb designer and highly skilled technician, Majorelle created flamboyantly luxurious pieces of unrivalled
quality. c.1900.

French Art Deco Furniture: SOLID ROSEWOOD OFFICE CHAIR, MACASSAR CHAIR, DEMI-LUNE SIDE TABLE, CENTRE TABLE.

FRANCE, ESPECIALLY PARIS, was the hub
of the lavish, or “high-style”, strain of Art Deco. The sumptuous, graceful furniture that was created in the 1920s by Emile Jacques Ruhlmann (see p.393) set the tone for this version of the style.
DUAL INSPIRATION
Using a host of exotic woods for decorative veneers, and embellishments made of colourful and expensive materials, ranging from ivory to lacquer and from leather to sharkskin, Ruhlmann and his colleagues – who included Paul Follot, Andre Groult, Jules Leleu, Leon-Albert Jallot, and Louis Sue and Andre Mare at the
Compagnic des Arts Francais – sought inspiration from the opulent furniture crafted by the fine cabinet-makers of the 18th century, such as Jean-Henri Riesener and Adam Weisweiler.
Ruhlmann and his associates
were also influenced by Art Nouveau (1880-1910). They took the sinuous lines, organic forms, and naturalistic motifs of that movement and restrained and stylized them, giving their pieces a more geometric form. Their exquisitely crafted Art Deco cabinets, tables, and writing desks were much coveted by an exclusive and wealthy clientele who sought status. Their
work was extensively displayed at the 1925 Paris Exhibition (see pp.392-93), bringing it to the attention of a much wider public.
LUXURIOUS MATERIALS
Jailor – who worked with his son Maurice – and Leleu favoured a rich palette of warm woods, such as walnut, palisander, and amboyna, enhanced With understated marquetry created with ivory, eggshell, shagreen, or mother-of-pearl. This often featured
signature Art Deco motifs, such as stylized garlands or baskets of flowers. Sue and Mare created luxurious, theatrical furniture in the Louis-Philippe style, and the decorating firm of Dominique produced stylish and sophisticated furniture in woods such as ebony and sycamore, upholstered in colourful silks, leather, and velvet.
The most exotic form of French Art Deco was realized in the innovative furniture created by Eileen Gray, Dunand, and Pierre Legrain. Both Gray and Dunand exploited the popularity of Oriental art by creating distinctive lacquered screens, tables, cabinets, and chairs, in which the lacquer was
often combined with other luxurious materials, such as tortoiseshell, eggshell, animal skins, and metal, to create a rather dramatic impression. Legrain was one of several designers inspired by African art.
TOWARDS MODERNISM
After 1925, some of the most committed French traditionalists, such as the
jallots, slowly began to adapt to the changes brought about by both the machine age and the introduction to furniture design of new materials, such as metal and glass. As a result, their later Art Deco designs are distinctly more Modernist in appearance They set the stage for the Modernist furniture created by designers such as Pierre Chareau and Francis Jourdain
Wrought-iron gates designed by Edgar Brandt
The stylized water fountain of these fine gates has swirling stems of leaves and pierced flowers, and vines run along the bottom. c.1924.

CENTRE TABLE
This centre table, designed by Maurice Dufrene, has a veneered table top supported by ornately moulded S-scroll legs. The table top is made from several different pieces of wood, which meet at the centre of the table. The contrasting patterns and textures of the woods used form the main decorative feature of the table
as, seen from above, they create a subtle, radiating geometric pattern. The moulded block feet are carved and support a small circular level with a carved rope design around the outer edge. A centre table was designed to be primarily ornamental rather than functional – to furnish the space in the middle of the room where it would also be the centre of attention. c.1925.
DEMI-LUNE SIDE “TABLE
This Louis Sue and Andre Mare bird’s-eye maple and mahogany demi-lune table has a broad crossbanded top above a thumb-moulded edge and a single frieze drawer. The table is supported on cabriole legs.
AMBOYNA CABINET
This amboyna cabinet has two central doors flanked by five small drawers on each side, each of which is decorated with ivory handles and inlay. The cabinet was designed and stamped by Paul Follot, and its symmetry and restrained style typify the elegant French Art Deco style. c.1925.

TABLE BAR
GILT-METAL TABLE
This table by Rene Prou is rectangular in shape and has elegant cabriole legs reminiscent of the early 18th-century Rococo style. The table is made of gilt metal and has a decorative pierced frieze of linked circles below the table top. c.1937.
MACASSAR CHAIR
This luxurious ebony and rosewood macassar chair, designed by Paul Follot, is one of a set of four. Each chair has a stylized acorn back within a “theatre drape curtain” arched back, carved by Laurent Malcles.
SOLID ROSEWOOD OFFICE CHAIR
This rare Edgar Brandt chair was one of a set designed for Brandt’s own offices. The arched high back extends above boldly scrolling T-shaped arms. The tapering legs terminate in gilt sabots. c.1932.
This Jules Leleu sycamore and mahogany table bar has a rectangular top above a rectangular section column. The fall front encloses a bar compartment with a single drawer below, located in the column. Its interior is veneered in contrasting mahogany.
This low stool is made of rosewood embellished with zebrano banding. The seat cushion is upholstered in a fabric that is typical of an Art Deco printed pattern, with overlapping geometric shapes, inspired by abstract art. c.1928.
LOW ROSEWOOD STOOL
BUTTON-BACKED CHAIR
One of a pair of square button-backed chairs by Marc du Plantier, this chair has square-section legs at the front and sabre legs at the back. The legs are made from painted wood and terminate in parchment sabots. The chair is newly upholstered in calfskin. c.1935.

Many major British designers used elements of the Art Deco style in their furniture, while remaining true to their Arts and Crafts roots and making little use of lavish ornament or exotic woods. Art Deco furniture was more typically produced by minor makers, whose work included copies of popular pieces shown at the 1928 Exhibition of Modern Art in Decoration and Furnishing. Held in London, the exhibition introduced decorative, continental Art Deco furniture into Britain. The Modernist influence of the 1930s is seen in the mass-produced furniture by Isokon (1932-9).
TRADITIONALISTS
The designers of the Cotswold School concentrated on the Arts and Crafts tenets of truth to materials, form derived from function, and traditional construction techniques. Native woods such as oak and walnut were favoured, and decoration was minimal. Luxury furniture was made by, among others, Sidney Barnsley (1865-1926), Peter Waals, and Robert Thompson (d.1955), the Houseman”, who used a carved mouse as his signature. Gordon Russell (1892-1980) made the most successful transition to both traditionalist and Modernist styles of Art Deco. While using traditional construction techniques, he incorporated such exotic materials as Macassar ebony and ivory into some pieces, together with Art Deco motifs like sunbursts and chevrons. His belief in the need for good-quality, mass-produced furniture led him to develop a range of furniture that used tubular steel and other synthetic materials, with machine-made parts.
Heal & Son (est. 1800), in London, maintained its role as a major manufacturer and retailer. Oak, especially limed oak, was most commonly used for a range of traditional Arts and Crafts designs with some Art Deco features. Again, decoration was minimal, and although contemporary construction techniques such as screw-fixing were used, pieces were hand-finished.

MODERNISTS
In 1934-5 Finmar Ltd was
set up in Britain to distribute Alvar
Aalto’s moulded plywood furniture. The plain, simple pieces had clean contours, decorated with blocks of colour; solid wood was often combined with laminates. The firm of Isokon (Isometric Unit Construction), founded in London by the architect Jack Pritchard (b.1899), produced a range of simple furniture, generally more adventurous than that distributed by Finmar. Designers associated with the company include Marcel Breuer (1902-81). Typical of the period are its lightweight stacking “cutout” tables and chairs made from a single sheet of cut and moulded plywood.
More exclusive Modernist Art Deco furniture was designed by Betty Joel (1896-1984), who used curving shapes, minimal decoration – wood grain or contrasting veneers – and native woods such as sycamore; from the 1930s she also used chromed steel and plywood laminates. One of the few truly innovative British Art Deco designers was Gerald Summers (1899-1967). In the 1930s he designed side-chairs and open armchairs, cut and shaped with curved backs and seats, in laminated birchwood. The Birmingham firm of PEL (Practical Equipment Ltd, est. 1931) commissioned collectable steel-frame furniture from such designers as Oliver Bernard (1881-1939) and Wells Coates (1895-1958).

•    MATERIALS light woods were popular – sycamore, limed oak, walnut, and burr-walnut
•    CONDITION plywood furniture must be in good condition: check laminated pieces for chips or flaking
•    COLLECTING one-off, commissioned pieces by well-known makers are very expensive; minor furniture is collectable if well designed and in good condition; pieces by members of Cotswold School most desirable; forms associated with Jazz Age most sought after
Marks
Heal & Son: work is stamped with this mark, inset in a circular ivory plaque on the insides of doors or inside drawers

Some of the finest Art Deco furniture was produced in France, where designers reacted against the Art Nouveau style, and were inspired instead by the lines of 18th- and early 19th-century French furniture.
Cabinet-makers such as Jacques-Emile Ruhlmann
1879-1933) created one-off pieces in exotic woods; others were influenced by African and Oriental art,
while from 1925 the machine aesthetic of Modernism gained prominence, with such materials as tubular steel.

TRADITIONALIST DESIGNS
The leading French furniture designer
from c.19 IS to the mid-1920s was
Jacques-Emile Ruhlmann, whose exceptionally fine handmade furniture is an elegantly pared-down version of the Neo-classical and Empire styles, with typical 18th-century features such as tapering, fluted legs. Decorative effect     is provided by exotic wood veneers, sometimes with inlaid ivory, mother-of-pearl, and tortoiseshell. After 1925 Ruhlmann used Modernist materials, such as tubular steel, but continued to work in a traditional style.
Other designers inspired by historical furniture were Louis Sue (1875-1968) and Andre Mare (1887-1932), who in 1919 formed the Compagnie des Arts Francais to produce a range of pieces including chairs, commodes, and desks, typified by massive forms and veneered in exotic woods with carved or inlaid stylized flowers, fruits, and plants. Their designs are heavier in style than Ruhlmann’s, as they favoured adaptations of Louis Philippe furniture of the 1830s and 1840s.
Many leading Paris department stores
had separate studios that provided a complete interior-design service. From 1921 Maurice Dufrene
( 1876-1955) directed La Maitrise, the design studio of Galeries Lafayette, and from 1923 Paul
Follot (1877-1941) was artistic director at Pomone for Au Bon Marche. Follot designed a wide range of  furnishings; urnishings; his furniture, like Ruhlmann`s is based on 18th-century forms, but
is distinguished by giltwood frames and richly coloured, patterned upholstery. Although his designs became more geometric after 1925, Follot continued to prefer wood, gilding, lacquer, and inlay to tubular steel, plastic, or glass.
EXOTIC AND MODERN DESIGNS
The geometric motifs typical of this period were derived from Cubist painting, which itself was influenced by the stylized forms of African masks and sculpture. The
furniture designer Pierre Legrain (1887-1929) took inspiration from African furniture, fashioning traditional designs in Western materials.
The Art Deco taste for Oriental art is evident in the popularity of lacquered furniture, the leading exponents of which were the Swiss-born Jean Dunand (1877-
1942) and the Irish-born Eileen Gray (1879-1976), both active in Paris. Dunand’s early lacquered furniture featured floral designs; his work from the 1920s depicted geometric forms in red-and-black lacquer and sometimes panels of crushed eggshell (coquille d’oeuf). Gray studied lacquering in Paris with the Japanese master Sougawara, and in 1920 she designed a furnished apartment for the milliner Suzanne Talbot, featuring a collection of African-inspired spired pieces. From c.1925, influenced by Modernism, she produced furniture of tubular steel, glass, and aluminium.
The leading designer of Modernist furniture was the architect Le Corbusier (1887-1965). At the 1925 Paris Exhibition he designed the Pavilion de VEsprit Nouveau, a stark, geometric space sparsely furnished with mass-produced items such as bentwood furniture by Thonet. From 1926, with Charlotte Perriand (b.1903) and his brother Pierre Jeanneret, Le Corbusier designed his own functionalist furniture using tubular steel and other “new” materials. These and other Modernist designs have been reproduced since the 1960s by the Italian furniture company Cassina.

Jacques-Emile Ruhlmann
•    FORMS simple, elegant forms    18th-centuryforms
based on 18th-century designs, with a very high standard of workmanshipMATERIALS
•     exotic wood veneers, such as Macassar ebony, amboyna, palisander, and amaranth; ivory inlay
•    COLLECTING all work collectable, and highly priced
Marks
Ruhlmann’s work carries this signature
Compagnie des Arts Francais
•    MATERIALS marble tops, velvet upholstery
Legrain, Dunand, and Le Corbusier
•    FORMS Legrain: African-inspired with angular, stepped features; Dunand: naturalistic floral designs, geometric designs; Le Corbusier: stark, Modernist designs TECHNIQUES AND MATERIALS Dunand: lacquering, crushed eggshell; Le Corbusier: tubular steel frames
•    COLLECTING Le Corbusier: modern reproductions
mass-produced by Cassina arc more accessible

After World War I, furniture designers combined luxury and practicality in their products, and created both traditional types of furniture and innovative forms. In France, traditional Art Deco furniture was typified by elegant styles looking back to the 18th or 19th centuries, using inlay and exotic woods. After 1925 French makers started to incorporate the “new” materials
that were part of the Modernist aesthetic, such as chromium, aluminium, and tubular steel — as advocated by the innovative German Bauhaus, whose industrial designers created functional furniture for mass production. In the USA, designers were influenced by both traditional and Modern European Art Deco, using materials such as laminated wood and chromed metal.

In the early 20th century, Dutch, German, and
Scandinavian furniture designers were at the forefront of the Modern movement. Designing specifically for Machine production, they rejected ornament and experimented with the new materials of tubular steel, aluminium, chromium, and preformed plywood, aiming to create standardized, functional furniture accessible to all markets.
THE NETHERLANDS
Among the earliest furniture designs inspired by the new machine aesthetic ere those of Gerrit Rietveld 1888-1964). From c.1918 Rietveld was associated with the Dutch magazine De Stijl (Style), whose contributors, a group of avant-garde architects, painters, designers, and theorists, aimed
to create a new “universal” art based on lines, geometric shapes, primary colours, and black and white. Rietveld’s “Red-Blue” chair, designed in 1918, is one of the best-known expressions of De Stijl ideas. Its straightforward construction meant that it was highly suitable for mass production. Versions made before 1923 are stained, varnished, or limed, reflecting Rietveld’s traditional training in carpentry. Only after this date was the chair painted in red, blue, black, and yellow. From c.1918 Rietveld’s furniture designs were constructed from linear wooden elements; from the mid-1920s they featured flat Wooden planes. Rietveld produced his own furniture until 1924, when he sold his business to his assistant Gerard van der Groenekan. Rights to the designs were sold in 1971 to the Italian furniture company Cassina, which still reproduces them today.
GERMANY
Most of the well-known furniture designers in Germany in the inter-war period were associated with the Bauhaus. Founded in 1919 in Weimar by the architect Walter Gropius (1883– 1969), the Bauhaus was one of the first schools to train artists and craftsmen to design high-quality goods specifically for industrial production. It is particularly renowned for the functional, geometric style of its products and its experimentation with new Materials such as tubular steel and plywood.
The best-known furniture designs associated with the Bauhaus were those produced by the Hungarian-born architect Marcel Breuer (1902-81), head of the school’s carpentry workshop from 1925 to 1928. His earliest designs feature linear wooden components, similar in
style to Rietveld’s furniture. However, by c.1925, Breuer was designing chairs with tubular steel frames, and his “Wassily” chair (1925) was one of the first tubular steel pieces to be produced on a large scale. Designs including the “Wassily” chair and the tubular steel-framed, cantilevered “B32″ chair (1926) were manufactured by such firms as Standard-Mobel Lengyel & Co. in Berlin and Thonet in Vienna. In 1932 Breuer began to design aluminium furniture for the Wohnbedarf furnishings stores in Switzerland; since aluminium is weaker than steel, these designs are more complex in construction than his tubular steel pieces. In 1935 Breuer emigrated to Britain, where he met Jack Pritchard (b. 1899), owner of Isokon (1932-9), which produced furniture in the Modern style and promoted the use of plywood. For Isokon, Breuer designed the “Long Chair”, a sculptural plywood reclining chair that moulded to the position of the body, and lightweight tables and chairs created from single sheets of cut and moulded plywood.
The avant-garde architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (1886-1969), artistic director of the Bauhaus from 1930 to 1933, designed cantilevered tubular steel furniture for mass production by the firm of Berliner Metallgewerbe
from 1927 to 1931. Many of his other designs, although functional in appearance, were in fact handmade for the luxury market. A notable example is his padded leather and chrome “Barcelona” chair and stool, designed for
the German pavilion at the 1929 International Exhibition in arcelona. With a curved X-frame inspired by Classical furniture, the chair was designed as a “throne” for King Alfonso XIII of Spain for the opening ceremony of the exhibition. Original Berliner Metallgewerbe models are exceptionally rare and valuable today, but since 1947-8 the chair has been mass-produced by the American firm of Knoll, and these reproductions are more accessible to collectors.
SCANDINAVIA
In the 1920s and 1930s, Scandinavia was less industrialized than the rest of Europe or the USA, and
its craft tradition was still highly evident in furniture and interior design. This tradition continued even with the advent of Modernism, Scandinavian designers preferring curving forms and wood to the angular shapes and tubular steel favoured by their German peers. This is well illustrated by the furniture designed by the Finnish architect Alvar Aalto (1898-1976), who from from 1929 experimented with plywood for such items as chairs and trolleys, and in 1933 patented a method of bending wood to make stacking stools. Like other Modernist furniture of the period, Aalto’s designs are simple in construction, with no surface decoration, although they may be painted in bright primary colours. His furniture was produced from 1930 to 1933 by the firm of Otto Korhonen in Turku and from 1935 by his own manufacturing company, Artek, in Helsinki. Aalto’s versatile furniture, especially his stacking stools, proved particularly popular in Britain, where it was imported and distributed by Finmar Ltd (est. 1934-5).

•    COLLECTING original 1920s and 1930s pieces are rarer and more valuable than recent versions; many designs were sold to large furniture companies from the 1940s and have been in continuous production since
Gerrit Rietveld
•    CONSTRUCTION linear elements were typical before the early 1920s; planar designs thereafter
•    COLOURS primary colours, plus black and white; early versions of “Red-Blue” chair are unpainted
Marcel Breuer
MATERIALS tubular steel, aluminium, or bent and
laminated plywood; leather arid cane for seats
•    CONSTRUCTION simple contours
construction; chairs and tables made after 1925 have runners rather than feet; Isokon side-chairs and tables are made from single sheets of cut plywood

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe
•    MATERIALS tubular steel combined with padded leather upholstery, raffia, or glass
•    CONSTRUCTION Some chairs are cantilevered; the “Barcelona” chair and stool have a distinctive X-frame; careful hand-finishing is typical
•    COLLECTING on early, handmade “Barcelona” chairs the top rail is in bent chromed steel with lap joints and chrome-headed bolts; on later, mass-produced pieces (after 1947-8) the top rail is of cut and welded stainless steel
Alvar Aalto
•    MATERIALS woods, especially plywood, bent laminated (which may flake), and solid birch
Marks
Some Finnish furniture is marked “Aalto Mobley, Svensk Kvalitet Sprodurt”; most pieces have an applied metal label bearing a model number