I'm a design student and am obsessed with modern furniture. I have a good knowledge of iconic MCM designers but sometime have a hard time pronouncing some of the lesser know designers names (or danish/japanese designers). Everyone knows how to pronounce Eames, Bertoia, van der Rohe, Noguchi, and Saarinen but some of the others can be tricky. This may be an odd question but does anyone know a source where I can find the proper way to pronounce modern designers names? It seems to give you a whole lot more creditability if you can pronounce names correctly! These are a few of the designers that I have trouble with. (I'm not saying that these designer are lesser known, or less popular! I don't want to start a riot). Maybe others can add to this thread if people have the same problem.
-Jean Prouve
-Gerrit Rietveld
-Curtis Jere
-Milo Baughman
-Poul Kjaerholm
-Jens Risom
-Eva Zeisel
-Ole Wanscher
Thanks for any help you can provide. 🙂
Good question
Here goes:
-Jean Prouve (Jean Proovey)
-Gerrit Rietveld ( garet reetveld)
-Curtis Jere (Curtis Eair or yeaar
-Milo Baughman ( Milo Bathman)
-Poul Kjaerholm ( Pol Careholme)
-Jens Risom (yens REsom
-Eva Zeisel (eve Zeyesel)
-Ole Wanscher (Olly Onesure)
Thats my stab I also have one that I didnt know properley for some time: Hvidt!
what is correct
modernG,
Should you have the money to purchase any products by these designers feel free to pronounce their names any way you choose. This is the "Golden Rule" - the person with the gold makes the rules.
If Jesus designed chairs there would be at least two ways to pronounce that name. Do the best you can and then forget about it.
What's the consensus on "Thonet"?
Toe-nay... or Ton-it?
The latter's supposedly correct, yet most Americans use the former. Should one go with the flow (so as to be understood), or risk coming off like a know-it-all jerk by pronouncing the "t"? (As with those Americans who pronounce Van Gogh as "Van Gock", or Nicaragua as "Neek-ah-rawh-gwa".)
That's correct,
tynellbuyer -- I graduated with a friend who went on to work for MB for a few years. Boffman is the way he pronounced it.
Ark, you have it almost correct: it isn't the customer who is always right about someone's name, it is the owner of that name. My high-school French teacher was the first of several in my life to point out that a person may pronounce his or her name any way they wish (typically based on family history) and others are obliged to follow suit.
Another correction to Arthur's list: Proovay. In French, the accented é is pronounced ay.
It was here, only a couple of years ago, that I was finally taught the correct pronunciation of Hans Wegner's name: Vayner, roughly. The silence of the Internet medium doesn't help us much in this matter !
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