I love sitting in rocking chairs but for the most part I can’t stand looking at them. I think almost every rocking chairs I have seen just look frumpy.But there are two I do like. One is attributed to Fredrik Kayser. It is beautiful but I don’t think I want to sit in it (pic 1). Now I just bought one by Gustav Axel Berg that I think is both beautiful, modern and great to sit in (pic 2)G A Berg, by the way, is worth knowing about. He is considered by some to be the father of Swedish Modern. What Kaare Klint was to the Danes, Berg was to the Swedes; they each set the agenda for some time to come. Berg pioneered ergonomics in chairs with ideas like lumbar support and that arm supports should slant upwards for comfort. He obviously influenced Bruno Mattsson and I think his bent laminated work is cleaner and purer than Mattsson’s. His use laminated wood led the way for Mattson, Yngve Ekström and of course IKEA. I think Berg’s chair “Status” is arguably better than Arne Jacobsen’s Egg. It also costs half as much. There is an interesting story there. Jacobsen fled Denmark during WWII and lived in Stockholm. Berg and Jacobsen must have run in the same circles. I don’t know who came up with the design first but Jacobsen’s is obviously more well known. Another cool story is that Greta Garbo walked into G A Berg’s store in Stockholm one day looking for a writing desk. She had in mind some fancy, elegant desk. Berg sat her down and explained that modern was more functional. By the time she walked out, she had ordered one of Berg’s.
Nice choices. There are certainly some handsome rockers out there; the Eames shell rocker ain't too bad, for one.
This rocker by Martha Rising (California, c. 1980) is memorable -- though seen today it isn't as satisfying in detail as I would like. Neo Art Nouveau seems like the right category. As a graphic statement it still shines ?
http://www.mfa.org/collections/object/delight-rocking-chair-397990
The Berg rocker does look really comfortable. The Kayser, not so much---I think a rocker really needs arms! And I agree that many look clunky.
I love my Wegner J16 rocker both in looks and for sitting and for its rockability. One of the things that I like about it is that it doesn't have a center spoke in the back, so your spine can go between spokes, not directly on one. Plus, everything else about it. The height especially. I don't like short rockers.
PS - I saw Greta Garbo in person once. She came into the hotsy-totsy health food store that I worked in part-time on the upper east side of NYC in the 70s when I was in college. One of my few claims to near-fame. (haha)
TMI
No -- I don't mean that -- we need all the info here that we can get, either by hook or by crook, as they say. And spanky is a font. He wrote a very useful response on (ahem) a competing rocker thread here a DA . . .
The odd-number-of-spaces thing -- an important comfort issue -- has an analog in the architecture realm. No Greek temple would confront a visitor with a central column to negotiate; there is always a central space in well-ordered banks of doors or windows, in work throughout the ages and up til the present day . . .
I thought the Martha Rising and the Dondolo were fabulous.
'Pologies to Spanky for starting another thread. I did search. The database motor on this site leaves a lot to be desired. Cool about Garbo. She was notoriously shy. Agree about the Kayser. It's not a serious rocker. No arms as you mention.
But I gotta add one more rocker. Helge Vertergaard-Jensen has a fabulous rocker. I was up close and the work is beautiful. Cost was out of sight.
If it isn't too far off-topic, here's another Garbo/design connection. Her upper east side apartment was near the original location of Parsons' School of Design, so that my father (who taught there), and no doubt many other instructors and students, saw her pretty often. Graduate thesis? How The Chance of Seeing Garbo on the Street Taught A Generation of New York Design Students to be Observant.
kate, I wonder if she was still fabulous when she was older. When she bought the desk, it was in the 40's so she was probably still making the boys gawk.
SDR, i think I know what you are talking about. The joints at the corners of the rocker frame don't look sturdy. I touched this actual chair but nobody was allowed to sit in it and rock. And it is rocking that tells you everything. How well the bottom curve is modulated so you get increasing resistance as you rock forward or back. Whether is squeaks when you rock. It was good to look at but maybe it was a klunker to drive.
If you need any help, please contact us at – info@designaddict.com