I am interested in the evolution of morphology of all things--not just in design. I suppose it roots back to all those morphing images of humans evolving into our present forms. Here is a series of photos exemplifying a morph sequence of a familiar arm chair type. Those with a slim band connection, be patient there are
1935 Henningsen
1951 Wegner
1951 Featherston
1952 Albini
The most interesting one to me is the jump from Henningsen in 1935 to Wegner in 1951, because they represent different generations of the same design culture. In short, Wegner was likely aware of the Henningsen chair when he sat down to do his chair. These two in particular allow us to observe how the designer's mind breaks through to forms incrementally, based on prior breakthroughs.
Comment...
Notice how Henningsen makes a mdoernist breakthrough in the upper part of the chair, but cannot free his sensibility from the traditional leg forms of past times, or perhaps he is making the allusion that modernism rests on the Victorian.
Then notice how the designers who follow him basically accept the upper part of the chair as an acceptable architype to work from, varying it a bit, but then concentrate the bulks of their imaginations on how to get past those old fashioned legs. They try all manner of solutions. Featherston seems far and away the most progressive morphologically, forecasting a kind of break, or speciation as evolutionary biologists might say, in the evolution of this chair type.
Good to see you mentioning...
Good to see you mentioning Featherston, I got three of his chairs (not as good as this one) from the garbage tip on the weekend.
I think the other three are all fundamentally the same, although perhaps the first one used iron rod for the backrest? Looks like it which would be a Victorian solution.
Are you still working on your chair design?
1952 Albini chair is as co...
1952 Albini chair is as cool as you can get,
Wagner s Papa is a classic and my company has redone several,
the only thing i don't like is it transients to the Queen Ann look and for the life of me I can not figure what a modern thinker like Hans Wager was thinking,? being a danish designer
he was the cusp of modern design, I have always wondered why he digressed back to The Queen Ann Chair for a mentor to the popa bear chair,
I have studied Wagner love his stuff end of story ...... I have had his Chinese pull up chairs . to me they have always felt like he took that idea from the 12 century Chinese , I guess they all had to start some where , and to start with these two important periods of design I guess is as good as any
That is why it has always been hard for me to stand up and cheer for Wagner I think as a supreme Allied commander of Design he took to many liberties from the past and called them his own design ( my o pion )
I came to the conclusion studying literature...
that all artists build from other artists' concepts and for the most part start by copying something they think is great and do it so relentlessly and repetitively that their personal style emerges inexorably inspite of themselves. All great artists in all fields say essentially the same thing. It is the hard work of doing it again and again until it gets worth noticing and then again and again for a living that forges something recognizable as great individual style. The artist knows what he wants to carry forward from the past. The artist knows where he wants to go. But the artist can't know the effect of repetition and suffering to get it right will have on his abilities and on exposing his inabilities. It is this process of working endlessly that yields a Wegner. All you have to do is devote yourself to doing anything for a couple of years--not thinking about it, but actually doing it, whether for pay or not, just getting up and doing it every day for a couple of years and one cannot help but be surprised at what one's work turns into. It is almost like your work transforms into something by another person. Why? Because that is exactly what happens: you change by working. Working is the most dynamically altering activity there is for a human being. Do shit work for a couple of years and you become more shitty. Do your best for a couple of work and your work becomes better. Your work becomes the sum total of learning of your struggles. You become your work...whatever you do. You do jack off work and you become a jack off and vice versa. It is one of the biggest mystical experiences of human existence. Everyone has it. And almost no one even mentions it. It is taken for granted. Don't.
Those four Featherstons on Ebay are...
wonderful looking even with the nicks and corrosion! But the shipping would choke a horse. Its amazing to me that we can float all the Chinese made junk and Middle East oil all the way around the world for almost nothing, but to throw four minimalist chairs in an air space on an already nearly full container probably carrying all manner of contraban costs a $1000 AUS!
I just had another look, I'm...
I just had another look, I'm not too sure about them anymore, I got the "scape" ones which I prefer.
I noticed the other day just how much the Featherston pic you posted looks like a Carlo Mollino piece, its not really "organic" but quite contrived and theatrical.
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