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Brutalist End Table ID Help  

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Mark O
(@seattledecksyahoo-com)
Eminent Member
Joined: 6 years ago
Posts: 32
21/11/2015 6:07 am  

I've had these tables for a long time and don't know who designed them. They were purchased from a very high end estate. Any ideas?
<img class="wpforo-default-image-attachment


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niceguy
(@112952msn-com)
Illustrious Member
Joined: 6 years ago
Posts: 1155
21/11/2015 4:02 pm  

lazylounger,
It looks to be an Acme piece. I have included a photo of the designer, Yosemite Sam, and his sophisticated companion in his "high end" home.


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objectworship
(@objectworship)
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Joined: 15 years ago
Posts: 1184
21/11/2015 10:32 pm  

The pretentiously sarcastic comment above is uncalled for. While the style is (presumably intentionally) not everyone's cup of tea, it is obviously higher end... thick high quality tempered glass tops like that aren't cheap, and the bases of the things are sculptures that must have been created by a trained person who apparently had some idea of what they were doing. File under art/artisan furniture and expect it to remain anonymous. The creator is more or less irrelevant out of time and context anyway, and "branding" can actually reduce perceived value in such circumstances, as some things are better without a bar code, etc.
Brutalism doesn't apply here.


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brbeard
(@brbeard)
Noble Member
Joined: 15 years ago
Posts: 282
22/11/2015 12:48 am  

Not sure, but maybe Silas Seandel?


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Mark O
(@seattledecksyahoo-com)
Eminent Member
Joined: 6 years ago
Posts: 32
22/11/2015 9:17 am  

Thanks for the replies. Any help is appreciated.


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retrolampguy
(@retrolampguy)
Reputable Member
Joined: 15 years ago
Posts: 113
23/11/2015 12:36 am  

objectworship
Why wouldn't brutalism apply?


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My Panton Home
(@my-panton-home)
Prominent Member
Joined: 12 years ago
Posts: 193
23/11/2015 5:15 pm  

Brutalism is a style of architecture, not a style of furniture.


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retrolampguy
(@retrolampguy)
Reputable Member
Joined: 15 years ago
Posts: 113
23/11/2015 7:49 pm  

While I suppose that may strictly true for architecture nerds, using the term brutalist to describe Paul Evans etc has certainly become common. What would you use instead?


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 _
(@deleted)
Illustrious Member
Joined: 15 years ago
Posts: 973
23/11/2015 8:01 pm  

Maybe a straight forward plain and simple abstract welded metal composition?


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objectworship
(@objectworship)
Illustrious Member
Joined: 15 years ago
Posts: 1184
23/11/2015 9:17 pm  

That works. Or maybe primitive deconstructivism?
Brutalism= formidable hell, usually in concrete.


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(@deleted)
Illustrious Member
Joined: 15 years ago
Posts: 973
24/11/2015 6:14 pm  

Look closely at your table bases again lazylounger, if each were custom made originally, there might be a stamp or signature hiding and just waiting to be re-discovered.
I just realized I have a mass produced Laurel lamp in this style/genre where the welded metal shapes and pattern are identical unlike your table bases which has a randomness in the way the parts are welded together.



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retrolampguy
(@retrolampguy)
Reputable Member
Joined: 15 years ago
Posts: 113
24/11/2015 9:20 pm  

That's a sweet brutalist lamp...
(sorry, couldn't help myself!)
Perhaps "capital B" Brutalism should be used when talking about the architecture style but "small b" brualism could be used when describing the Paul Evans/Harry Balmer genre of furniture and decorative items. I don't see how deconstructivism is more appropriate since it's an architectural style also. If you object to co-opting the architectural term Brutalism for furniture, why not here also?


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SDR
 SDR
(@sdr)
Illustrious Member
Joined: 15 years ago
Posts: 6462
25/11/2015 12:14 am  

Common mistakes are still mistakes ?
Eastlake is an architectural term which was subsequently applied to furniture. So was Art Nouveau, Craftsman, Constructivist, etc etc. The problem isn't the migration, it's the misapplication of an accepted term to something only tangentially related, if at all. If the tables in question appear rough or intentionally crude, that doesn't mean they're Brutalist -- which has a distinct meaning in architecture.
(By the way, I'd wonder if those green-glass tops are original to the bases. The rounded corners seem inappropriate, somehow -- and the tops are so little wider than the leg spacing that I'd be concerned about an accident . .. )
The thing to do is to look for previous usage, and choose the accepted term wherever possible -- so that our design language doesn't turn into a grab-bag of "Eames era, Frank Lloyd Wright" (or "Andrew Lloyd Wright," from today's Chronicle). I'd look to the museum/auction house sector for accepted terminology -- which I will do right now, for a name for Paul Evan's furniture style.
Of course it's fun to be creative. If I had to make up a name for Evans et al, I might try "metal collage." The Internet and social media have made everyone a potential scholar and critic; all the more reason to look for common ground and good communication, rather than chaos ?


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SDR
 SDR
(@sdr)
Illustrious Member
Joined: 15 years ago
Posts: 6462
25/11/2015 12:23 am  

I haven't yet come across the term Brutalist in literature about Evans. He was a member of the American Studio Movement -- or American Craft Movement -- though those connections aren't universally credited.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/21/arts/design/the-furniture-and-life-of-...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_R._Evans
https://www.1stdibs.com/creators/paul-evans/furniture/
I expect that terms like Brutalism -- if not the subjects they actually refer to -- will come and go as if they were fashions or fads. When a term is "hot" it will show up more frequently; later another style will be "in." Nothing too surprising about that, I suppose.


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niceguy
(@112952msn-com)
Illustrious Member
Joined: 6 years ago
Posts: 1155
25/11/2015 1:05 am  

SDR,
Abstract metal end tables is my "doesn't say much" gentle and/or kind terminology for these units.
Comparing the designers and manufacturers end tables available through the "Buy & Sell" heading at this site would easily qualify those same end tables as POS.
Design and execution is primitive at best. Mediocre and pedestrian is too kind. Three Stooges Manufacturing is over qualified to make these pieces


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