Don Albinson (1921- 2008) – American furniture designer

Albinson Chair by Don Albinson
Don Albinson stacking chair

Don Albinson (1921 -2008) was an American Furniture Designer.

Education

He studied in Sweden, Cranbrook Academy of Art, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, and Yale University.

Biography

Don Albinson black and white photo
Don Albinson black and white photo

He took Charles Eames’ industrial and product design courses at Cranbrook. In 1946, he joined the Eames Office and worked on the moulded plywood series of chairs designed by Charles and Ray Eames. The Eameses treated him like a son, and he stayed with them in their Los Angeles apartment for six months. Albinson was instrumental in creating many of the furniture items produced for Herman Miller as a critical member of staff at the Eames Office, especially the Aluminium Group chairs of 1958. Many of the technological and design advances in furniture produced by the Eameses can be attributed to Albinson’s knowledge of manufacturing processes and engineering. Albinson quit the Eames Office in 1959 after 13 years and was hired as Knoll International’s director of design production in 1964. His first project for Knoll was the hugely popular Albinson chair in die-cast aluminium and polypropylene, which debuted in 1965.

Stacking chair

Knoll’s 1965 stacking Albinson chair was similar to British Designer’s Robin Day trendy chair for Hille, although Albinson’s was more sophisticated. They stack, hook together side by side and are comfortable to sit in. After Knoll, he became a consultant designer to Westinghouse on office seating and furniture systems.

Albinson said that the essential consideration in the design of his chair was to go farther than previous designers did in fitting chairs to persons of different dimensions.

Knoll International Graphic Program: The Albinson Chair 1967
Knoll International Graphic Program: The Albinson Chair 1967

Exhibitions

Chairs shown in 1968 ‘Les Assises du siège contemporain’ exhibition, Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris.

Received the 1967 American Architectural Design Award and 1967 AID award.

Toward the end of his career, Don Albinson believed that now that American production and design expertise had achieved the ultimate goal of everything for everyone. It was time for design to solve real problems like affordable shelter, efficient mass transportation and delivery of goods without wasteful packaging.

Sources

Boston Book and Art. (1971). Modern Chairs, 1918-1970. Retrieved from https://amzn.to/3CQhEfV.

Byars, M., & Riley, T. (2004). The design encyclopedia. Laurence King Publishing.

Fiell, C., & Fiell, P. (2021). Design of the 20th Century. Taschen. Retrieved from https://amzn.to/3CRYDd6.

Kirkham, P., Eames, C., & Eames, R. (1998). Charles and Ray Eames designers of the Twentieth Century. MIT Press. Retrieved from https://amzn.to/3nTMFva.

Meikle, J. L. (2014). Design in the USA. Oxford University Press. Retrieved from https://amzn.to/3FRNVW5.

You may also be interested in

Chair No.14, 1855 by Michael Thonet – Encyclopedia of Design

Bentwood furniture was not invented by Michael Thonet (1798-1871), but he perfected a method for mass production. In 1819, in Boppard, Germany, he opened his cabinetmaking business, and by 1840 he had invented the steam-softening technique for bending rods of hardwood into flowing yet structurally solid shapes.

Dakota Jackson American furniture designer – Encyclopedia of Design

Dakota Jackson is an American furniture designer best known for his Dakota Jackson furniture line. He was a magician’s son, and by the time he was six, he became a professional magician. He performed in public until his early 20s.

More Furniture Designers

  • Exploring the Life and Legacy of Shiro Kuramata (1934 – 1991)

    Exploring the Life and Legacy of Shiro Kuramata (1934 – 1991)

    Shiro Kuramata is a Japanese interior and furniture designer who has executed many interiors for Issey Miyake shops. His best-known pieces are his glass chair (1976) and homage to Hoffmann, Begin the Beguine (1985). His interior designs make use of expanded lattice metal and moiré effects. His portfolio includes furniture in irregular forms and large…

  • René Gabriel (1890 – 1950) French Interior Designer

    René Gabriel (1890 – 1950) French Interior Designer

    René Gabriel was a follower of Francis Jourdain who made wallpaper, fabric, rugs, and porcelain for the Manufacture de Sèvres. He also designed bent-metal tubular seating and structures, and opened Ateliers d’Art, Neuilly. He taught at the Ecole des Arts Appliqués and was the director of the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs. His work…

  • Friedl Dicker – Austrian Jewish Designer: A Creative Journey

    Friedl Dicker –  Austrian Jewish Designer: A Creative Journey

    Friedl Dicker (1899 – 1944) was an Austrian architect and furniture, interior, and textile designer. She was active with Franz Singer in their Werkstätten bildender Kunst, Berlin, and amalgamated her studio with Singer’s, Vienna, designing houses, apartments, kindergartens, offices, textiles, interiors, and furniture. She was arrested during the Starhemberg Putsch in Vienna, practised interior architecture…

  • What Does Norman Foster Bring to the Table as an Architect?

    What Does Norman Foster Bring to the Table as an Architect?

    Norman Foster is a British architect and designer known for creating neutral rooms and high-tech furniture systems. He was a member of the council and an honorary member of the Royal College of Art.Read More →

  • A Glimpse of David Palterer an Israeli Designer

    A Glimpse of David Palterer an Israeli Designer

    David Palterer is an Israeli designer born in Haifa. He is professionally active in Florence.Read More →

  • Christian Germanaz ( b. 1940 ) french industrial designer

    Christian Germanaz ( b. 1940 ) french industrial designer

    Germanaz designed the Half and Half seat (1964), it was manufactured by Airborne in 1968. This consisted of two identical plastic shapes clamped together to form a bench.Read More →

  • Daniel Pabst (1826 – 1910) German American furniture designer

    Daniel Pabst (1826 – 1910) German American furniture designer

    Daniel Pabst (1826–1910) was a German American furniture designer and cabinetmaker, best known for his work in the modern Gothic style. He studied at the technical high school in Hesse-Darmstadt and was one of the hundreds of German craftsmen and furniture workers who settled in Philadelphia in the mid-19th century. He opened his own workshop…

  • Antonia Astori (b.1940) co-founded Driade

    Antonia Astori (b.1940) co-founded Driade

    Antonia Astori co-founded Driade with her brother Enrico and Adelaide Acerbi in 1968. She was able to create a unique network of furniture designers, galleries, and shops.Read More →

  • Isaac Elwood Scott (1845 – 1920) American Furniture Designer

    Isaac Elwood Scott (1845 – 1920) American Furniture Designer

    Isaac Elwood Scott (1845 – 1920) was an American furniture designer, woodcarver, and ceramicist, active in Philadelphia, Chicago, New York, and Boston. He founded Scott and Copeland, Designers, Carvers, and Art Wood Workers, and collaborated with Henry S. Jaffray to create the interiors and design of Warder, Bushnell, and Glessner’s new Chicago headquarters. Read More…

  • Agostino Lauro (1861 – 1924) Italian Designer

    Agostino Lauro (1861 – 1924) Italian Designer

    Agostino Lauro was an Italian designer and entrepreneur with a reputation for private commissions and public buildings.Read More →

  • Ambrose Heal (1872 – 1959) British Furniture Designer

    Ambrose Heal (1872 – 1959) British Furniture Designer

    Ambrose Heal (1872–1959) was a British furniture designer known for his simple and functional designs inspired by the Arts and Crafts movement. He studied at the Slade School of Fine Art and was a member of the Art-Workers’ Guild. He adopted the more fashionable Modern approach to furniture, following the style of his designers J.F.…

  • Reuben Cary (1845 – 1933) American furniture designer

    Reuben Cary (1845 – 1933) American furniture designer

    Cary’s father moved to the Adirondacks area of New York State in the year 1845. In 1874, Brandreth asked Cary to make him 24 chairs with slatted backs, plain turned legs, and splint seats in a traditional style. Cary may have made some of the rustic furniture in the cottages at Brandreth Park.Read More →

  • Jean Goulden (1878 – 1946) French Artisan & Crafter

    Jean Goulden (1878 – 1946) French Artisan & Crafter

    Jean Goulden was a French painter, musician, and crafter who lived from 1878 to 1946. During World War I, he found Byzantine enamels near Mount Athos in Macedonia. His Cubist pendulum clocks were some of his best pieces. Only 180 of his items are known to exist.Read More →

  • Charles Pfister (1938 – 1990) American interior designer

    Charles Pfister (1938 – 1990) American interior designer

    Charles Pfister (1939 to 1990) was an American interior and furniture designer and architect. He was professionally active in San Francisco.Read More →

  • Peter Murdoch (b.1940) British furniture, industrial designer

    Peter Murdoch (b.1940) British furniture, industrial designer

    Peter Murdoch (b.1940) is a British furniture, interior, graphic, and industrial designer.Read More →

  • Jasper Morrison (b.1959) – British Designer, quirky, understated furniture

    Jasper Morrison (b.1959) – British Designer, quirky, understated furniture

    Morrison produced quirky, satiric, understated furniture. His 1986 South Kensington flat was widely published in design magazines. He designed 1988 Door handles I and II, and a 1989 range of aluminium handles produced by FSB in Germany. Read More →

  • Sebastian Bergne (b. 1966) – English / Italian industrial designer

    Sebastian Bergne (b. 1966) – English / Italian industrial designer

    The phrase ‘less is more’ perfectly encapsulates the core of these works, the quality of which can only be attained by a proper understanding of form.Read More →

  • Jay Spectre (1930 – 1992) American Interior and furniture designer

    Jay Spectre (1930 – 1992) American Interior and furniture designer

    Jay Spectre (1930 – 1992) was an American Interior and furniture designer. He was born in Louisville, Kentucky. He was professionally active in New York. He began his interior design career in 1951 in Louisville. In 1968, he established the design company Jay Spectre, in New York. He designed interiors for luxury homes, private jet…

  • Andre Hermant (1908 – 1978) French architect and furniture designer

    Andre Hermant (1908 – 1978) French architect and furniture designer

    In 1936, he became a member of UAM (Union des Artistes Modernes); after World War II, he participated in the reconstruction of the port of Le Havre under the direction of architect Auguste Perret.Read More →

  • Oscar Onken (1858 – 1948) and the ‘The Shop of the Crafters’

    Oscar Onken (1858 – 1948) and the ‘The Shop of the Crafters’

    Oscar Onken (1858 – 1948) was an American entrepreneur. He was professionally active in Ohio. Onken was a prominent businessman and philanthropist. Impressed with the Gustav Stickley and Austrian stands at the 1904 St. Louis ‘Louisiana Purchase Exposition,’ he founded The Shop of the Crafts in Cincinnati in 1904. Read More →

  • Ennio Lucini (b.1934) Italian, packaging, product, graphic designer

    Ennio Lucini (b.1934) Italian, packaging, product, graphic designer

    He executed small objects for the home in ceramics and glass produced by Gabbianelli and metalware by Barazzoni. He designed the hemispherical Ponte di Brera drinking glasses (from 1965 by Ponte di Brera, 1968—75 by Gabbianelli) and 1968 Tummy range of stainless-steel cookware by Barazoni. Read More →

  • Harry Bertoia (1915 – 1978) Italian sculptor, furniture designer

    Harry Bertoia (1915 – 1978) Italian sculptor, furniture designer

    Harry Bertoia was a sculptor, printmaker, jeweller, and furniture designer. He was born in San Lorenzo, Udine, and worked in the United States professionally. During World War Two he worked with Ray and Charles Eames on moulded-plywood technology. He worked primarily as a sculptor from the mid-1950s onwards. His sculpture was prominently featured in many…

  • André Mare (1885 – 1932) french furniture designer

    André Mare (1885 – 1932) french furniture designer

    Mare André was a french painter, decorator and furniture designer. He studied painting, at the Academie Julian, Paris. Read More →

  • Charles Rennie Mackintosh, Scotland’s celebrated designer

    Charles Rennie Mackintosh, Scotland’s celebrated designer

    Charles Rennie Mackintosh is Scotland’s most celebrated architect and designer of the 20th century, and his work is celebrated worldwide. READ MORERead More →

  • Poul Kjærholm (1929 -1980) Danish designer

    Poul Kjærholm (1929 -1980) Danish designer

    He was a Danish designer who worked for his friend Ejvind Kold Christiansen and created an extensive range of furniture. He received international recognition for his contributions to the ‘Formes Scandinaves’ exhibition in Paris and the legendary ‘Lunning Prize’ for his PK22 chair. LEARN MORERead More →

  • John Mascheroni (b.1932), American furniture designer

    John Mascheroni (b.1932), American furniture designer

    John Mascheroni has been designing furniture for his entire career, recognized for his design acuity and modernism. LEARN MORERead More →

  • Francis H. Bacon (1856 – 1940) American Furniture Designer

    Francis H. Bacon (1856 – 1940) American Furniture Designer

    He was a designer for furniture maker Herter Brothers, commissioned by the company to furnish the New York William H. Vanderbilt House, 1881-83. LEARN MORERead More →

  • Ico Parisi (1916 – 1996) Italian furniture designer

    Ico Parisi (1916 – 1996) Italian furniture designer

    Ico Parisi was an Italian architect and designer of the modernist style who worked with Luisa Aiani and opened La Ruota in 1947. LEARN MORERead More →

  • Enzo Mari (1932 -2020) Italian modernist, industrial designer

    Enzo Mari (1932 -2020) Italian modernist, industrial designer

    Inventor of commonplace items whose radical politics were incorporated into their creations Enzo Mari (1932 – 2020) was an Italian modernist and furniture designer who lived from 1932 to 2020. TELL ME MORERead More →

  • Lluís Clotet (b.1941) – Spanish architect and furniture designer

    Lluís Clotet (b.1941) – Spanish architect and furniture designer

    Lluís Clotet (B.1941) is a Spanish architect and furniture designer. Born in Barcelona in 1941. TELL ME MORERead More →

  • Sam Maloof (1916 – 2009) American furniture designer

    Sam Maloof (1916 – 2009) American furniture designer

    The furniture designed by Sam Maloof can be found in every imaginable place in the United States, from boardrooms to bungalows, from the White House to the Smithsonian. READ MORERead More →

  • Vico Magistretti (1920 – 2006) Italian architect/designer

    Vico Magistretti (1920 – 2006) Italian architect/designer

    In 1920 Vico Magistretti was born in Milan, Italy. First recognition of his work came in 1948, at the 8th Triennale. He started designing for Cassina in 1960, and from that date on his signature is to be found on many products.Read More →

  • Otto Wagner (1841 – 1918), Austrian architect and designer

    Otto Wagner (1841 – 1918), Austrian architect and designer

    Architect Otto Wagner was one of the leading figures in the Vienna Secession. After studying architecture at the Vienna Technical High School (1857–1860) and the Vienna Academy (1861–183), he worked in various historical styles for many years until he joined the Secession.Read More →

  • Ola Wihlborg Swedish industrial and product designer

    Ola Wihlborg Swedish industrial and product designer

    He took his first steps towards his career as a designer at Beckmans College of Design in Stockholm, Sweden, where he studied furniture and product design. After graduating in 2004, he began working as a freelance designer.Read More →

  • Émile Bernaux (1883 – 1970) French sculptor and furniture designer

    Émile Bernaux (1883 – 1970) French sculptor and furniture designer

    Émile Bernaux was a French sculptor and furniture designer. He was born in Paris in 1883.Read More →

  • Michael Taylor (1927 – 1986) – “California Look” 🌞

    Michael Taylor (1927 – 1986) – “California Look” 🌞

    Michael Taylor (1927 – 1986) was an American interior and furniture designer. He was known for the “California Style” and made his homes showplaces of the unexpected.Read More →

  • Maurice Dufrêne (1876 – 1955), French Decorative Artist

    Maurice Dufrêne (1876 – 1955), French Decorative Artist

    Maurice Dufrêne (1876–1955) was a French decorative artist who headed the Maîtrise workshop of the Galeries Lafayette department store. He designed many different types of decorative art, including metalwork, ceramics, glass, and fabric. His designs from 1910 onward are austere and neoclassical, reminiscent of the Louis XVI style.Read More →

  • Suzanne Guiguichon (1901 – 1985) French Furniture Designer

    Suzanne Guiguichon (1901 – 1985) French Furniture Designer

    Suzanne Guiguichon was a French furniture designer and decorator. She was born and worked in Paris. Since 1929 she worked as a designer with Maurice Dufrene at the Galeries Lafayette design studio La Maitrise in Paris. Most of the furniture, clocks, lighting, fabrics, rugs, accessories Guiguichon designed anonymously.Read More →

  • Ole Wanscher (1903 – 1985) Danish furniture designer

    Ole Wanscher (1903 – 1985) Danish furniture designer

    Ole Wanscher was a Danish architect, furniture designer, and writer. In 1944, studied Bygningsteknisk Skole; subsequently, architecture, Det Kongelige Danske Kunstakademi, Copenhagen.Read More →

  • Eugenio Quarti (1867 – 1931) Italian furniture designer

    Eugenio Quarti (1867 – 1931) Italian furniture designer

    Eugenio Quarto (1867 – 1931) was an Italian furniture designer who was born near Bergamo. He was professionally based in Milan.Read More →

  • Max Ernst Haefeli (1901-1976) – Swiss architect and designer

    Max Ernst Haefeli (1901-1976) – Swiss architect and designer

    Max Ernst Haefeli (1901-1976) was a Swiss architect and designer born in Zurich. He worked in the Otto Bartning studio in Berlin between 1923-24.Read More →

  • Memphis Group – it has little to do with Tennessee

    Memphis Group – it has little to do with Tennessee

    Memphis was a movement in interior design introduced at the annual Milan Furniture Fair in 1981. It consisted of a group led by Memphis guru Ettore Sottass of avant-garde Italian designers. With outrageous interpretations of traditional furnishings and accessories, Memphis shocked the traditionally quiet industry.Read More →

  • Walter Kantack (1889 – 1953) – American Lighting Designer

    Walter Kantack (1889 – 1953) – American Lighting Designer

    Walter Kantack was an American Lighting Designer born in Meriden, Connecticut. He completed his studies at the Pratt Institute in New York.Read More →

  • Michele De Lucchi (b.1951) Italian architect and designer

    Michele De Lucchi (b.1951) Italian architect and designer

    At the Universita di Firenze, he experimented with new forms of art and film. In 1973, he created the Cavart group alongside Piero Brombin, Pier Paola Bortolami, Boris Pastrovicchio, and Valerio Tridenti, which was active in Architettura Radicale, filmmaking, written works, and happenings. Read More →

  • Ron Arad Israeli (b.1951) industrial designer and artist

    Ron Arad Israeli (b.1951) industrial designer and artist

    Ron Arad is an Israeli industrial designer, artist, and architectural designer. He is professionally active in the United Kingdom. Israeli-born Arad studied at the Jerusalem Academy of Art in 1971 before moving to London in 1973 to study at the Architectural Association’s School of Architecture. From 1974 to 1979, he was one of Britain’s most…

  • Pierre Paulin (1927 – 2009) French furniture designer

    Pierre Paulin (1927 – 2009) French furniture designer

    He was active in research for the government-sponsored Mobilier International. His first plastic object was the 1953 Chair 157 in polyester, ABS, and elastomers produced by Artifort of Maastricht. Around 1955, he was one of the first to work in elasticised fabrics for Thonet and subsequently for Artifort.Read More →

  • Richard Peduzzi (b.1943) French Set and Furniture Designer

    Richard Peduzzi (b.1943) French Set and Furniture Designer

    Richard Peduzzi (b.1943) is a French painter and scenic furniture designer. Education He studied drawingRead More →

  • Fabio Lenci (b.1935) Italian Designer

    Fabio Lenci (b.1935) Italian Designer

    Fabio Lenci (1935 – ) is an Italian Designer. He received his design education in Rome. He began his professional career in 1966. He set up a shop for contemporary furniture in Rome. Read More →

  • John Makepeace (b.1939) British Furniture Designer

    John Makepeace (b.1939) British Furniture Designer

    He started designing furniture in 1961. In 1964, he set up a workshop in Farnsborough Barn, Banbury, moving in 1976 to Parnham House in Dorset. He established the Parnham Trust and School for Craftsmen in Wood in 1977.Read More →

  • Clément Mère (1861 – 1940) French, designer and furniture maker

    Clément Mère (1861 – 1940) French, designer and furniture maker

    Clément Mère was born in Bayonne and active in Paris. He was a French painter, table-builder, artist and furniture builder. He studied painting with Jean-Léon Gérôme at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris.Read More →

  • Léon Jallot (1874 – 1967) French designer and artisan.

    Léon Jallot (1874 – 1967) French designer and artisan.

    Léon Jallot (1874­-1967), a scion of the French Art Nouveau, stood out within the movement as an ébéniste, or cabinet maker.Read More →

  • James Evanson (1946 – 2022) American furniture and lighting designer

    James Evanson (1946 – 2022) American furniture and lighting designer

    James Evanson has been at the forefront of the “functional art” movement around the world. His work has travelled worldwide since his first exhibition in 1979 at the Art et Industrie Gallery in New York. For the Memphis Collection in Milan, new work was created just for the occasion. The “Lighthouse” lamps gained international acclaim…

  • Gianni Pasini (b.1937) Italian Designer – Electronic Machinery

    Gianni Pasini (b.1937) Italian Designer – Electronic Machinery

    Gianni Pasini was born in 1937 in Venice and professionally active in Milan. Some of his clients were Olivetti, Fabbrica Italiana, Magneti Marelli, and Crin hospital. He worked with Sandro Pasqui in a design studio from 1974 onwards.Read More →

  • Archizoom avant-garde Italian design studio

    Archizoom avant-garde Italian design studio

    Four architects—Andrea Branzi, Gilberto Corretti, Paolo Deganello, Massimo Morozzi—and two designers—Dario Bartolini and Lucia Bartolini—founded Archizoom this Italian avant-garde design studio in 1966 in Florence, Italy. They focused on exhibition installations and architecture and designing interiors and goods as part of the Italian Anti-Design or Radical Design movement.Read More →

  • George Sowden – British/Italian Designer

    George Sowden – British/Italian Designer

    George James Sowden is a British designer. He was born in Leeds and active Italy. Between 1960-64 and 1966-68, he studied architecture, Gloucester College of Arts. Read More →

  • Bill Stumpf (1936 – 2006), inventor of the modern swivel chair

    Bill Stumpf (1936 – 2006), inventor of the modern swivel chair

    In 1976, the Ergon chair was introduced by Bill Stumpf, a designer for Herman Miller. It had a foam-filled back and seat, gas-lift levers to change the height and tilt. The Ergon was based on the new science of ergonomics, first used to design aeroplane cockpits.Read More →

  • Henry Van de Velde (1863 – 1957) Belgian artist, architect, interior designer

    Henry Van de Velde (1863 – 1957) Belgian artist, architect, interior designer

    Henry van de Velde was a Belgian architect, industrial designer, painter and art critic. He worked in Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands.Read More →

  • Marcel Guillemard (1886 – 1932) French Decorator & designer

    Marcel Guillemard  (1886 – 1932) French Decorator & designer

    Marcel Guillemard (1886 – 1932) was a French decorator and furniture designer. He was born and professionally active in Paris.Read More →

  • George Nelson (1907 – 1986) American voice on design

    George Nelson (1907 – 1986) American voice on design

    George Nelson (1907 – 1986) was an American industrial designer. His Storagewall shelf system, which he made in 1945, changed the way offices worked. The Marshmallow sofa from the 1950s is one of his best-known pieces.Read More →

  • Alessandro Mendini (b.1931) Italy’s famous design thinker

    Alessandro Mendini (b.1931) Italy’s famous design thinker

    Alessandro Mendini (b.1931) played an important part in the development of Italian, Postmodern, and Radical design. He was co-founder of Studio Alchymia (with Alessandro and Adriana Guernero) in 1976. He was awarded several international prizes, including the Compasso d’Oro in 1979, 1981, and 2014. In 2011, he was awarded with the title Doctor Honoris Causa…

  • Introducing Kazuhide Takahama (b.1930) Japanese Designer

    Introducing Kazuhide Takahama (b.1930) Japanese Designer

    At the X Milan Triennale exhibition in 1954, he met the furniture manufacturer, Dino Gavina, who subsequently invited Takahama to work for him in Italy. Takahama’s first design for Gavina was the geometrically severe Naeko sofa-bed (1957). Read More →

  • Christian Dell (1893 – 1974) German metalworker designer

    Christian Dell (1893 – 1974) German metalworker designer

    Christian Dell (1893–1974) was a German silversmith. Dell was born in Hesse’s Offenbach am Main. In the 1920s, Dell ran the metal workshop at the Bauhaus University, and his designs are, in line with the Bauhaus style, characterised by modern shapes and functionality. After his successful stint as an industrial designer, Dell returned in the…

  • British Designer Jack Pritchard (1899 – 1992): A Profile

    British Designer Jack Pritchard (1899 – 1992): A Profile

    Jack Pritchard was one of the most prominent designers in Britain during the 20th century, creating iconic pieces like the bentwood dining table and the Penguin Donkey that can be found in top museums around the world today. Find out more about Jack Pritchard’s life and career by reading this profile of one of Britain’s…

  • Khodi Feiz Iranian born Industrial Designer

    Khodi Feiz  Iranian born Industrial Designer

    Feiz’s work has received numerous awards and has been featured in exhibitions and publications worldwide. The overriding inspirations for Feiz’s work can be summed up by: Clarity, concept and context. Feiz has developed several project in collaboration with Artifort, including the Extens, Bras and Beso chair family.Read More →

  • Eric Anthony Bagge (1890 – 1970) French architect and designer

    Eric Anthony Bagge (1890 – 1970) French architect and designer

    Eric Anthony Bagge (1890 – 1970) was a French architect and designer. He was born in the town of Antony, near Paris.Read More →

  • Alhambra Table Fountain

    Alhambra Table Fountain

    Alhambra Table Fountain is a centrepiece in the form of a Moorish pavillion having a domed roof decorated with champleve enamelling and resting on a leafy base. The piece is in the style of the Alhambra, Granada, and is intended to represent a shrine covering a water-hole. On the base and encircling the edifice are…

  • Pedestal Table inspired by 🏛️ classical architecture

    Pedestal Table inspired by 🏛️ classical architecture

    A pedestable table is originally the base support of a column, in classical architecture. A pedestal in furniture may have one of four definitions: Read More →

  • Franco Deboni (b.1950) Italian architect and glassware designer

    Franco Deboni (b.1950) Italian architect and glassware designer

    He worked for various firms in Italy and Yugoslavia. He received a patent for a bookcase-component system. Clients included Ferro & Lazzarini (glassware) and Italianline. He was best known for his lighting in glass and a mushroom-shaped table lamp in marble; became a member of ADI (Associazione per il Disegno Industriale); was author of Venini…

  • Atika (1987 – 1999) – Czech Design Group

    Atika (1987 – 1999) – Czech Design Group

    Formed in 1987, Atika was aligned with the Anti-Design orientation of Archizoom, Alchimia, and Memphis in Italy. One of its goals was to support Post-Modernism, seeking an outlet for experimentation and new means of expression. Its expressive language used signs of symbolic meanings that referred to nature, society, and urban destruction. Read More →

  • Geoffrey Harcourt (b.1935) British Furniture Designer

    Geoffrey Harcourt (b.1935) British Furniture Designer

    Between 1960-61, he worked at Latham, Tyler and Jensen, Chicago, and with Jacob Jensen in Copenhagen; in 1961, opened his studio in London, specialising in furniture design; from 1962; began designing seating for Artifort, the Netherlands, who produced more than 20 models of his furniture designsRead More →

  • Bruno Gregori (b.1954) Italian Furniture Designer

    Bruno Gregori (b.1954) Italian Furniture Designer

    He was one of the founders of Alchimia in 1976. He was particularly active in its graphics program Read More →

  • Peder Moos (1906 – 1991) Danish Furniture Designer

    Peder Moos (1906 – 1991) Danish Furniture Designer

    The son of a farmer, he attended Askov Højskole, a folk High School, before training as a cabinetmaker in Jutland and later in Copenhagen. From 1926 to 1929, he worked in Paris, Geneva and Lausanne. In 1935, he moved into Bredgade in Copenhagen where he started his own workshop which he maintained for 20 years.…

  • Frederick Kiesler (1890 – 1965) Austrian architect designer

    Frederick Kiesler (1890 – 1965) Austrian architect designer

    From 1920, he collaborated briefly with Adolf Loos. in the 1920s. He designed theatre sets and interiors; in 1923, he joined the group De Sujl and, in the same year, developed the design of his ‘Endless’ house and theatre. Read More →

  • Carlo Zen (1851 – 1918) Italian Cabinetmaker

    Carlo Zen (1851 – 1918) Italian Cabinetmaker

    From cl1880, Zen directed the most crucial furniture workshop in Milan. He was active in the stile floreale, continued after the 1902 Turin ‘Esposizione Internazionale d’Arte Decorativa Moderna’ to be known for his Art Nouveau and Symbolist motifs. He was not a designer himself but instead a factory owner and manager. From 1898, his firm…

  • Martine Bedin (b.1957) radical architecture and design

    Martine Bedin (b.1957) radical architecture and design

    Bedin was one of the founders of the avant-garde Memphis group in Milan in 1981. Also, she has worked as an architect, industrial designer and professor. Her work is held in many important museums and private collections. Bedin’s aesthetic is typically colourful and self-consciously kitschy.Read More →

  • Frank Brangwyn (1867 – 1956) British Artist and Designer

    Frank Brangwyn (1867 – 1956) British Artist and Designer

    From 1882, through his friendship with Arthur H. Mackmurdo, he worked as a draftsman and designed tapestries for William Morris; in 1885, he rented a studio and showed his work for the first time at the Royal Academy; in 1895, he executed murals for the entrance of and a frieze in Siegfried Bing’s shop L’Art…

  • Zaha Hadid (1950 – 2016) architect, artist and designer

    Zaha Hadid (1950 – 2016)  architect, artist and designer

    She was described by The Guardian as the “Queen of the curve”,who “liberated architectural geometry, giving it a whole new expressive identity”Read More →

  • Grete Jalk (1920 – 2006) Danish furniture designer

    Grete Jalk (1920 – 2006) Danish furniture designer

    Jalk was a Copenhagen native. She studied under cabinetmaker Karen Margrethe Conradsen at the Design School for Women (1940–1943) after earning a high school diploma in modern languages and philosophy. In addition to obtaining extra instruction from Kaare Klint at the Royal Academy’s Furniture School, she completed her studies at the Danish Design School in…

  • Toshiyuki Kita (b.1942) Japanese Furniture and Interior Designer

    Toshiyuki Kita  (b.1942) Japanese Furniture and Interior Designer

    He set up his own design office in Osaka in 1964; in 1969, he began designing furniture for Italian and Japanese firms; he collaborated with Silvio Coppola, Giotto Stoppino, and Bepi Fiori for Bernini. He is best known for the 1980 Wink articulated armchair produced by Cassina, which took four years to design; Read More…

  • Cor Alons (1892 – 1967) Dutch Interior and Industrial Designer

    Cor Alons (1892 – 1967) Dutch Interior and Industrial Designer

    Between 1913 – 1917 he studied in the drawing and painting department, Academie van Beeldende Kunsten, The Hague.Read More →

  • Mogens Koch (1898 – 1992) Danish Architect and Designer

    Mogens Koch (1898 – 1992) Danish Architect and Designer

    In 1934, he set up his own design office. He designed the 1932 Safari chair, still in production today by Interna in Frederikssund (Denmark). He designed a range of objects, including furniture for Rasmussens Snedkerier, Ivan Schlechter, Cado, Danish CWS, and Interna; carpets; fittings; silver; and fabrics for use in the restoration of Danish churches.…

  • Roberto Lucci (b.1942) Italian Furniture Designer

    Roberto Lucci (b.1942) Italian Furniture Designer

    He worked with Marco Zanuso for several years. In 1970, he and Paolo Orlandini collaborated independently for several clients, designing lamps and chairs produced by Artemide and Martinelli Luce.Read More →

  • George Nakashima (1905 – 1990) American woodworker and designer

    George Nakashima (1905 – 1990) American woodworker and designer

    In 1934, he worked in the Indian office of American architect Antonin Raymond. In 1937, in the Tokyo office, he studied Japanese carpentry techniques. In 1941, he set up his first workshop in Seattle. In 1942 in Idaho, Nakashima studied with an old Japanese carpenter until Antonin Raymond arranged his release. Read More →

  • Elbert Green Hubbard (1856 – 1915) American furniture designer

    Elbert Green Hubbard (1856 – 1915) American furniture designer

    Elbert Green Hubbard (1856 – 1915) was an American furniture designer. Hubbard met William Morris in 1894 and the following year inspired by Morris’s Kelmscott Press, founded the Raycroft Press’ East Aurora, near Buffalo, New York. He was the founder of the Roycrofters, an Arts and Crafts community; he organized workshops, lectured, and wrote as…

  • Franco Albini (1905-1977) Italian Architect and Designer

    Franco Albini (1905-1977) Italian Architect and Designer

    Franco Albini’s design work encompassed a wide variety of disciplines, including furniture, interior, and product design, architecture, planning, and museum design. Read More →

  • Finn Juhl (1912 – 1989) influential Danish Designer

    Finn Juhl (1912 – 1989) influential Danish Designer

    Finn Juhl was one of the most influential Danish designers of the 20th century and closely associated with the Danish Modern concept. Juhl was widely known for his furniture design and product design, with a lesser but excellent reputation for architecture and interior design.Read More →

  • Steen Østergaard (b.1935) Danish furniture designer

    Steen Østergaard (b.1935) Danish furniture designer

    Steen Østergaard is a Danish designer. He studied Kunsthandvraekerskolen, Copenhagen to 1960. 1962-65, he worked with architect Finn Juhl…Read More →

  • Erik Herlow (1913 – 1999) Danish architect and designer

    Erik Herlow (1913 – 1999) Danish architect and designer

    In 1945, he set up his design studio in Copenhagen. He became head of Det Kongelige Danske Kunstakademie. He worked primarily in metal, designed stainless steel and sterling silver wares for A. Michelsen, aluminium cooking wares for Dansk, and 1954 Obelisk cutlery for Universal Steel. From 1955, he was artistic director of Royal Copenhagen Porcelain…

  • Jens Risom (1916 – 2016) Danish American Furniture Designer

    Jens Risom (1916 – 2016) Danish American Furniture Designer

    He studied at Krebs’ School to 1928, St. Anne Vester School to 1932, and Niels Brock’s Business School, University of Copenhagen, to 1934. Between 1935—38, he studied furniture and interior design at Kunstandvaerkerskolen, Copenhagen.Read More →

  • Pierre-Émile Legrain (1889 -1929) French Furniture Designer

    Pierre-Émile Legrain (1889 -1929) French Furniture Designer

    He submitted cartoons in 1908 for Paul Iribe’s satirical reviews Le Témoin, L’Assiette au beurre, Le Mot, and La Baionnette. Iribe invited Legrain to collaborate with him on projects including furniture and interior design, jewelry for Robert Linzeler, and dress designs for Paquin.Read More →

  • Isamu Noguchi (1904–1988) American sculptor and designer.

    Isamu Noguchi (1904–1988) American sculptor and designer.

    Isamu Noguchi (1904–1988), was an American sculptor and designer. He was born in Los Angeles and professionally active in New York. He was influential and well-received in the twentieth century. He produced sculptures, gardens, furniture and lighting designs, ceramics, architecture, and set designs throughout his lifetime of creative experimentation. His work, both subtle and bold,…

  • Ferdinand Kramer (1898 – 1985) German Architect and Designer

    Ferdinand Kramer (1898 – 1985) German Architect and Designer

    Kramer’s father was the owner of the most well-known of Frankfurt hat shops. In 1916, immediately after school, Kramer was drawn into military service and remained a soldier through the end of the First World War. The following year he trained at the Bauhaus for a few months before quitting, disillusioned with the technical level…

  • Henri Rapin (1873 – 1939) French artist and decorator

    Henri Rapin (1873 – 1939) French artist and decorator

    Rapin worked as a painter, illustrator, furniture designer, and decorator. From 1903, his furniture was generally simple. From 1910, he began to produce more elaborate designs using exotic materials and carved wood panels by Eve Le Bourgeois and Charles Hairon. These designs were in response to the challenge from the designers of the Münchner Vereeingite…

  • Aldo Cibic (b.1955) self-taught Italian architect and designer

    Aldo Cibic (b.1955) self-taught Italian architect and designer

    Aldo Cibic is a self-taught architect, designer, researcher, environmentalist and humanist. He was born in Vicenza and professionally active in Milan.Read More →

  • Jacques Hitier (1917 – 1999) French furniture designer

    Jacques Hitier (1917 – 1999) French furniture designer

    He specialised in developing industrial furniture for public contexts like schools and government buildings after WWII. He exhibited his whole body of work at both the Salon des Artistes Décorateurs and the Salon des Arts Ménagers. Hitier also created luxury and high-end home furnishings.Read More →

  • Peter Hvidt (1919-1986) Danish architect and Cabinet maker

    Peter Hvidt (1919-1986) Danish architect and Cabinet maker

    Peter Hvidt (1919-1986) was a Danish architect and Cabinet maker.Read More →

  • Meta-Memphis Italian Furniture Manufacturing Firm

    Meta-Memphis Italian Furniture Manufacturing Firm

    Meta-Memphis was an Italian furniture manufacturing firm.Read More →

  • Vittorio Introini (b.1935) Italian designer and architect

    Vittorio Introini (b.1935) Italian designer and architect

    Vitorio Introini (b.1935) is an Italian architect. town planner, industrial designer and teacher. Education HeRead More →

  • Pascal Mourgue (1943 – 2014) French designer and artist

    Pascal Mourgue (1943 – 2014) French designer and artist

    Pascal Mourgue is a French designer and artist. He was professionally active in Paris and the brother of Olivier Mourgue. He considers himself more of an artist than a designer. He is noted for modern yet timeless style. He designs products for both home and the office illustrate his belief that utility and fine art…

  • Marcel Breuer (1902 – 1981) Hungarian architect and industrial designer

    Marcel Breuer (1902 – 1981) Hungarian architect and industrial designer

    He attended the Vienna Akademie der bildenden Künste in 1920 and the Bauhaus in Weimar from 1920 to 1924. In 1920, he moved to Vienna, intending to become a painter and sculptor. However, he left the Akademie der bildenden Kunste because he was displeased with it, and he enrolled at the Bauhaus in Weimar, where…

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.