The Revolutionary | Designers Revolt

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Designers Revolt believes that the designers behind classic, wonderful pieces of furniture would turn in their graves at the exclusivity their designs have achieved due to the artificially inflated prices charged by licensed manufacturers. The time has come for a designers revolt. Both for the sake of the people as well as the designers.

"To whom does design address itself: to the greatest number, to the specialist of an enlightened matter, to a privileged social class? Design addresses itself to the need" - Charles Eames

The design was created to fill a need. Today the purpose of classic furniture, for many people, has shifted towards a new "need". The "originals" created are often seen as a status symbol which is why many people are adamant about maintaining them exclusive and only available to the ones that can afford them. Designers Revolt aims to shift this need back to the original need by creating high quality copies of the originals that keep a low price and make them accessible to most people.

“I based my work on a need: what chairs are needed? I found that people needed a new type of chair for the small kitchen dinettes that are found in most new building today, a little light and inexpensive chair.” -Arne Jacobsen

Wegner is known as the "master chair maker" since he designed more than 500 chairs. His preferred material was wood but through the flagline chair and a few other designs Wegner shows that he masters other materials as well. The low futuristic lines you can see in the chair are typical of Wegner's designing. He considered a chair to be something more than just furniture, Wegner saw his designs as a piece of art to support the human form.

"I have always wanted to make unexceptional things of an exceptionally high quality" - Hans Wegner

People have seen Wegner as a person that was working non-stop. Even if much of his life consisted of work he had a relaxed view towards work and said that "We must be careful that everything doesn't get so dreadfully serious. We must play - but we must play in a serious way". With this in mind it is no suprise that the Flagline Chair idea came from a beach vacation with the family. At the beach, whilst the kids where playing in the water, Wegner occupied himself with digging into the sand and making a comfortable chair to enjoy the holidays. With this base Wegner brought the idea back to his studio, created a steel frame and used a 240 meter long flagline for creating the seating. A sheep-fur was added to the seat to break up the strong industrial lines and make it more comfortable. 

"When we were young, we were rebels, we wanted to do something different. There were so many ornaments and embellishments … We never set about to create a style. It was rather a continuous process of purification, and for me, of simplification; to cut down a chair to the simplest possible elements, four legs, a seat and then combine it with a top rail and an arm rest." Hans Wegner (in an interview with Barbara Berger)

Charles-Eduoard Jeanneret-Gris is better known as Le Corbusier. Adapting a pseudonym was very fashionable in Paris in the 1920s and Charles-Eduoard adapted his pseudonym from his maternal grandfater, Lecorbésier. Using a pseudonym was also a way for Le Corbusier to reflect his belief that people are able to reinvent themselves.

Contrary to Josef Frank criticism of modern design Le Corbusier embraced the "machine age" and said that "A house is a machine for living in". His belief in new technology made him contribute to the journal "L'Esprit Nouveau" that aimed to improve the standard of living for all socioeconomic levels with help of modern technology and strategies.

Le Corbusier 2.0 VOST from Alix A.K.A L'intrépide on Vimeo.

His furniture had a rationalist aesthetic in the design. With his machine-based approach towards design Le Corbusier identified three types of furniture: type-needs, type-furniture and human-limb objects.

In 1918 Le Corbusier started painting together with the Cubist painter Amédée Ozenfant. With their collaboration they started seeing Cubism as "romantic" and irrational. They published a manifesto and established a new movement called Purism as a reaction against this:

Purism does not intend to be a scientific art, which it is in no sense. Cubism has become a decorative art of romantic ornamentism. There is a hierarchy in the arts: decorative art is at the base, the human figure at the summit. Painting is as good as the intrinsic qualities of its plastic elements, not their representative or narrative possibilities. Purism wants to conceive clearly, execute loyally, exactly without deceits; it abandons troubled conceptions, summary or bristling executions. A serious art must banish all techniques not faithful to the real value of the conception. Art consists in the conception before anything else. Technique is only a tool, humbly at the service of the conception. Purism fears the bizarre and the original. It seeks the pure element in order to reconstruct organized paintings that seem to be facts from nature herself. The method must be sure enough not to hinder the conception. Purism does not believe that returning to nature signifies the copying of nature. It admits all deformation is justified by the search for the invariant. All liberties are accepted in art except those that unclear

In the Florence Charterhouse (in the valley of Ema, Italy) he found an architectural inspiration that would be the basis of all his future works. He wanted all people to be able to live as peacefully and beutifully as the monks at the sanctuaries. This belief can also be seen through the sculptures he erected at several of his projects depicting an open hand which was the ”sign of peace and of reconciliation[...] meant to receive the created riches, and to distribute them to the peoples of the world. That should be the symbol of our epoch.”

Le Corbusier is often considered to be the most influential architect of the 20th century and this influence still affects several people today. In an interview earlier this year Kanye West (a famous rapper) said that one of Le Corbusiers lamps was his largest inspiration when writing his new album.

PK 24, the “Hammockchair”, was designed 1965 and was set in production 1967. With the PK 24 Kjærholm’s principle of independent elements is more evident than ever. Kjaerholm called the principle of a self balanced seat and cushion for the “neutral equilibrium” (Sheridan, 2007).

The chair consists of three independent parts: the base, the seat and the cushion. The seat just lies on the frame with help of gravity and friction. The cushion hangs over the seat balanced with a weight. Two thin steel bands with guides for the seat holds the frame stable and gives the needed friction and support to the seat.

In contrast to his PK 22 chair, the PK 24 frame was produced from mirror polished stainless steel which also included polished stainless screws. One reason for this was that the frame was too large to be made in spring steel (Sheridan, 2007). In 2005 Fritz Hansen changed this concept through producing the frame with a brushed, satin surface and by replacing the polished stainless screws with black screws.

On the original PK 24 the cushion was offered in red Niger leather and Cowhide. From 2003 the seat is somewhat darker and less bleached in order to make it stronger.

The PK 20 was designed in 1968 and taken to production the year after. According to Sheridan (2007), it was the Tugendhat chair (by Mies van der Rohe and Lilly Reich) that served as the model which Kjærholm wanted to progress beyond. The frame to the PK 20 was made from chrome-plated spring steel with a curved cross bar supporting the seat structure and joining the legs.

The leather seat of the PK 20 has its own story. E. Kold Christensen had insisted that the remaining leather parts from producing the PK 20 should be used in some way (Sheridan 2007). Kjærholm’s solution to this was to have the extra parts sewed into a ribbed tube. The layer beneath the leather was originally made from canvas.

Proving that you were the first with an idea and should have the right to the "original" is sometimes hard. Currently Samsung is fighting with Apple saying that the iPad was not the first idea of a "tablet with a large screen". Samsung is trying to disprove the patent by pointing to 'prior art' (showing that the invention has been described somewhere before the patent was issued for it). Part of the proof Samsung are using is a scene from the Science Fiction movie ’2001: A Space Odyssey’ (a film created in 1968 about the future). In one of the scenes from the movie you can clearly see something that looks similar to the concept of an iPad.

Many propogators of intellectual property law say that the laws are there to encourage creativity. In most cases an extended protection is only an excuse for dominating the market through their monopoly. To protect their profits anything resembling the original (even if creatively adapted) will be banned from the market. Putting artifical boundaries in a market, such as intellectual property law, only disrupts the balance between consument and producer. In the end it is the consumer that pays the price for a product that develops very slowly from a lack of competition. The "original" will also bring an inflated price since the supply is tilted into a monopolistic position.

The scene from ’2001: A Space Odyssey’ also shows another, even more timeless, product: Arne Jacobsen's cutlery. The minimalistic and simple cutlery was designed in 1957 but still maintains a modern look. Firms like Designers Revolt make replicas of the cutlery which helps to shift the market into a more fair position for consumers. Good design should not be locked away with monopoly situations to only the rich that can afford it. We need to bring design to the people. Arne Jacobsen never wanted his design to be unaccessable through cost:

The line between an "original" and a "copy" is often small. All creative ideas have their orign in some past work by someone else. How much inspiration is it ok to take from other people's work?

Finn Juhl was very inspired by the Egyptian furniture and used a lot of this in his own design. He talks about his inspiration in the book "Finn Juhl : Furniture, Architecture, Applied Art" (written by Esbjorn Hiort). Regarding his 'Egyptian Chair' Finn Juhl says that:

1. His real name is Charles-Eduoard Jeanneret-Gris. Adapting a pseudonym was very fashionable in Paris during the 1920s. He got his pseudonym from the name of his maternal grandfather, Lecorbésier.

2. He designed India's first planned city, Chandigarh. The plans came from what he conceptualized in 'La Ville Radieuse' (The Radiant City).

3. He drew nude sketches of the famous actress Josephine Baker on a trip with an ocean liner between South America and Europe.

4. He created a new artistic movement called 'Purism' together with the cubist painter Ozenfant. The new movement was a reaction against Cubism being too "irrational and romantic".

5. His deepest architectural inspiration came from visiting a monastery. The Florence Charterhouse had a profound affect on his future design and urban planning. He wanted all people to have a chance to live as peacefully and beautifully as the monks he saw in those sanctuaries.

6. He believed that society needed "Architecture or Revolution". Class-based revolution could only be avoided by efficient Architecture. He contributed to the magazine "L'Esprit Nouveau" for many years which aimed to improve the standard of living for all socioeconomic levels with help of modern technology and strategies.

7. Salvador Dalí was once a friend of Le Corbusier but later detested him saying that Le Corbusier’s “death filled me with an immense joy. [...] Le corbusier was a pitiable creature working in reinforced concrete”. Dalí has also been quoted as saying that Le Corbusier‘s buildings were “the ugliest and most unacceptable buildings in the world”.

8. The image of the 'Open Hand' was one of the most important symbols for Le Corbusier. During his lifetime he created several sculptures of the 'Open Hand', the biggest being the 28m tall Open Hand sculpture in his planned city Chandigarh. The 'Open Hand' symbolized a ”sign of peace and of reconciliation[...] meant to receive the created riches, and to distribute them to the peoples of the world. That should be the symbol of our epoch.”

9. Le Corbusier wanted to demolish two square miles of central Paris in 1925 and build sixty-story skyscrapers instead (including airports on the roof). This urban plan never became real but is described in his 'Ville Radieuse' proposal.

The chair was produced while Finn Juhl was working for the Cabinet maker Niels Vodder (NV) The number 45 comes from the year 1945 when it was created. The smooth curves and crisp lines are typical for the organic approach Finn Juhl used in his design.

The model 45 chair broke with tradition through incorporating a "floating element" into it. The seat and back was freed from the frame creating a floating feeling to the chair. This floating element was incorporated into many of Finn Juhls designs after the NV45.

The original NV45 chair was produced in Teak, Rosewood, Walnut, Mahogany and Cherry wood. In 1975 Rosewood was protected and made illegal to use in any type of production. Designers Revolt has chosen to make the NV45 chair in Walnut, which is a durable material great for ornate furniture and will last you a lifetime if cared for properly.

An iconic design is a transformative design. It applies a new set of standards for others to follow in their designs. Other designs will be judged and measured against the iconic design and it will function as a type of benchmark for others. An iconic design is also something that will still be "modern" despite the passing of time.

ICONIC DESIGN CRITERIA

Sets a Benchmark and is something for others to follow.

Groundbreaking design that uses new technology, style or manufacturing techniques.

Improves on the past.

New standards in quality, functions, features or style.

Timeless and will always stay "modern".

Stays in memory for the ones that see or use it.

Recognition is often immediate because of a distinct style.

Inspirational for other designers.

Trend-setting.

Innovative.

Aestetically pleasing to view.

A design that gets emulated or copied often by other designers.

Makes a mark in history or helps define it.

If we apply these criterias to Eero Saarinens Womb Chair we can see why the Womb chair is one of the most iconic and acknowledged representations of Scandinavian organic modernism from the mid-century. Saarinen and Eames had participated in the Organic Design Competition for the Museum of Modern Art in 1941 where they experimented with new materials. Saarinen was eager to continue exploring new techniques to achieve comfort from the shape of the shell instead of the depth of the cushioning. Florence Knoll asked him:

“Why not take the bull by the horns and do the big one first? I want a chair that is like a basket full of pillows…something I can curl up in.”

With this in mind Saarinen created the distinct looking Womb Chair to curl up in. He made use of new techniques and applied foam molded over a fiberglass shell, creating a single-piece form that enables a relaxed sitting posture. The style of the chair and use of the shell for comfort has inspired many chairs in a similar fashion.

The PK 22 was introduced 1956 and was an instant success. It won several prestigious prices and initial sales was god enough to provide E. Kold Christensen with capital for Kjærholm’s later design. 

The chair consisted of two separate frame structures in chrome-plated spring steel of which the leather (canvas or cane) covered seat-frame was joined to the legs by means of machine screws. These machine screw had two advances. From a commercial perspective, shipping became a less obstacle since the chair could be shipped disassembled, and from the perspective of design, Kjærholm could treat the interfaces between the seat and the legs with desired precision (Sheridan, 2007).

The 1956 catalog listed the canvas version as PK 21 and the canvas came in black, white or green-umber. The PK 22 was offered in red or black Niger leather which was a very durable goatskin from West Africa (Sheridan, 2007). The goatskin was however replaced already in 1957 with colored cowhide in tan, black and red and the same year the cane version was introduced. In the 1957 catalog all three version (leather, canvas, cane) had the common name PK 22. An interesting fact is that the frame to the cane version was made with a different curvature. To compensate for the hardness of cane, both the seat and the back were made more curved and the crossbar was made straighter.

In 1981 E. Kold Christensen sold the production rights to Fritz Hansen who from 1982 have implemented a series of modifications on the PK 22. For example, 1997 the canvas version was discontinued in the standard selection. In 1999 the crossbar from the leather version was introduced also on the cane version. Also in 1999 the chrome plated spring steel structures were replaced with stainless steel which were brushed matt. From 2005 and onwards the PK 22 comes with the larger curvature frame which originally was designed for cane version.

Le Corbusier believed that "A house is a machine for living in". He had a rationalistic aesthetic approach in his design and developed a new proportional system for design he called the "Modulor". In the spirit of the Vitruvian man, Le Corbusier suggested that the "Modulor" would give harmonious proportions to everything from the size of door handles to urban spaces. The "Modulor" is a scale of proportions derived by dividing the human body by the golden section (commencing at the navel) and through the application of the fibonacci series on the further divisions. This "standardized proportion" was another way for Le Corbusier to conform to the "machine age" and the era of mass production which he believed would help improve the socio-economic level for everyone.

Through his design he found 5 points towards a new architecture:

Pilotis (elevating the structure off the ground)

Free Plan (seperating the load-bearing columns from the walls to subdivide the place)

Free Facade (a free area to use in the vertical plan)

Ribbon Windows (long horizontal sliding window)

Roof Garden (restoring the area of the ground lifting up a garden)

In 1925 Le Corbusier wanted to destroy two miles of down-town Paris and replace it with his urban planning (including building sixty-story skyscrapers with airports on top). In the words of Le Corbusier:

I shall ask my readers to imagine they are walking in this new city, and have begun to acclimatize themselves to its untraditional advantages. You are under the shade of trees, vast lawns spread all round you. The air is clear and pure; there is hardly any noise. What, you cannot see where the buildings are ? Look through the charmingly diapered arabesques of branches out into the sky towards those widely-spacde crystal towers which soar higher than any pinnacle on earth. These translucent prisms that seem to float in the air without anchorage to the ground - flashing in summer sunshine, softly gleaming under grey winter skies, magically glittering at nightfall - are huge blocks of offices. Beneath each is an underground station (which gives the measure of the interval between them). Since this City has three or four times the density of our existing cities, the distances to be transversed in it (as also the resultant fatigue) are three or four times less. For only 5-10 per cent of the surface area of its business centre is built over. That is why you find yourselves walking among spacious parks remote from the busy hum of the autostrada.

RegencyShop are suing Knoll claiming that the Barcelona design was stolen from the public domain with help of "fraudulent representations and fraudelent omissions". The Barcelona Chair was considered public domain in the USA through a court case in 2000 concerning the Herman Miller 'Eames chair'.

The Barcelona Chair was introduced at the 1929 Barcelona Exposition in Spain. The chair is also known as the Pavilion Chair. It was in limited production from 1930s to 1950s and a few years after van der Rohe, allegedly, ceded his rights of the design to Knoll. The problem appeared in 2004 when Knoll received trademark rights for the design from the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and according to RegencyShop these rights were given under fraudulent circumstances.

Knoll keeps trying to protect their monopoly of producing the Barcelona Chair almost 100 years after it was created. The future will tell if the Barcelona Chair will be declared public domain or if Knoll will manage to keep it away from competitors for a few more years in USA. The legal battle is currently going on at a federal court in New York between Knoll and RegencyShop.