John Mascheroni (b.1932), American Furniture Designer

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John Mascheroni featured image
John Mascheroni featured image

John Mascheroni is an American furniture and industrial designer.  

Education

He studied at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York. He opened his own design office and furniture factory in New York. Mascheroni designed furniture for manufacturers in High Point, North Carolina. From 1990, his furniture designs were produced by Swaim and, from 1991, others by Jeffco.

Chair 424

His chair 424 has a frame of tubular polished aluminium sections three inches in diameter. The chair has a wood frame seat covered in multi-density urethane foam and upholstered. A sling of fabric loops up over the armrest support.

Exhibitions

His work was shown at the 1969 ‘Plastic as Plastic exhibition at the New York Museum of Contemporary Crafts and the 1969 Annual Design Review at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago. His Chair 424 was shown at the 1970 ‘Modern Chairs 1918-1970’ exhibition at the Whitechapel Gallery in London.

Reflections on career

John Mascheroni Influences

In a recent interview with Jean Layton from Designers Today, Mascheroni recounts his influences. “Scandinavian designers have a very sculptural way of working with wood when they make chairs. Hans Wegner and Arne Jacobson both knew a lot about how the body works. Charles Rennie Mackintosh and Mies van der Rohe are two more. Most designers of that time didn’t understand scale and proportion as well as Jean-Michel Frank did. Carlo Scarpa and Tobia Scarpa, his son. Carlo was doing a lot of great designs in the 1950s to the 1970s.

Ward Bennett was a brilliant designer. He made some lovely things. He was a modernist, but only in the old-fashioned way. He would take something old and make it look more modern. For example, he would take a British bank chair and turn it into something very beautiful. He mentored Joe D’ Urso, who came on later. Also Phillipe Starck.”

Sources

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

Stimpson, M. (1987). Modern furniture classics. Whitney Lib Design.

Why John Mascheroni is still excited about designing furniture at the age of 90 | Designers Today. (2022, November 8). Designers Today. https://www.designerstoday.com/people/why-john-mascheroni-is-still-excited-about-designing-furniture-at-the-age-of-90/

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1 Comment

  1. Author

    Why John Mascheroni is still excited about designing furniture at 90 – Furniture Today – Excellent reading, inspiration life long learner, artisan.

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