Irish Mid Century - Arthur Edwards chair  

I though some of you might like a bit of a show and tell about the Arthur Edwards chair I found, as I was not even aware that Ireland produced anything like this: The chair was called, rather un-inspiringly, Model C - a "cocktail/lounge" chair which was part of the Crannac collection of domestic and contract furniture designed by Arthur when he was design consultant to John Hogg & Co Ltd, Navan, Republic of Ireland between 1959 and 1963. It was this particular design which was awarded the first Irish Industrial Design Award. I'm attaching a copy of the original page in the Crannac collection catalogue showing Model C, upholstered as you can see in Donegal two-tone grey handwoven tweed. http://www.flickr.com/photos/rosewoodandteak/6451659073/ Arthur had been invited by the Irish Export Board to examine the potential for design and development of the furniture industry in Ireland, at that time very much a garden-shed /cottage industry. He continued to work for Irish clients until he died two years ago. You can see some of his more recent work on the "Sherry designs" website: http://www.sherryfurniture.co.uk/sherry/aboutus.asp Arthur Edwards trained at the Royal College of Art, after which he joined the design team at Gomme Ltd. working on the original G-Plan collections. He then held several positions within the UK furniture manufacturing industry as design director be fore launching his own consultancy design company in 1968. His UK clients included Stag, Marks & Spencer, John Lewis, Schreiber and many other companies sadly no longer in business. During the 1970's & 80's he also worked as a consultant for the United Nations International Trade Centre in Asia, Eastern Europe and South America. Whilst in Asia he became very interested in rattan and as a result, specialised in designer rattan furniture for the home for hand assembly in Thailand, the Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia. This exclusive furniture sold worldwide and has been particularly successful in the USA and Japan where there are (or were, I'm not sure if they are still there) Arthur Edwards showrooms in top department stores. In fact he was much better known in Asia than in Europe, where his name was seldom connected with his designs. Dan