Photograph by Tom Dixon
Home All-Stars: Hallmarks Of Style
January 1, 2006
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Karl Springer Exotic-Skin Tables and Chairs
When karl springer first started designing furniture in the 1960s, he made no attempts to disguise his affinity for the work of Jean-Michel Frank. Yet the
only thing the two seemed to have in common was an instinct for luxury, which in Springer’s case manifested itself in understated and sometimes crude forms
that became sophisticated when covered in such opulent finishes as ring lizard,
cobra and polished bone. Springer had a passion for large-scale design, once
proclaiming that “oversized furniture makes a room more important.” However, it is his smaller, exotic skin-covered chairs and low tables that continue to be
copied. Today, Matthews & Parker owner Mark Eckman, who worked with the late
designer for 30 years, is meticulously reproducing 16 of Springer’s original
designs. (Click image to enlarge)
Karl Springer, through Matthews & Parker, 914.723.8887, ww.matthewsandparker.com J. Robert Scott, 877.207.5130, www.jrobertscott.com; function voidFunc() { } voidFunc();)
Photograph by Christopher Dow. (Click image to enlarge)
J. Robert Scott Shagreen Tables
Sally sirkin lewis has been collecting boxes and frames of shagreen on her own
for years. “It’s one of those exotics people always associate with me,” says the
designer, who believes “shagreen has the ability to transform objects into the
extraordinary.” When the California-based founder of J. Robert Scott finally
added the luxurious oceanic material to her company’s collection, others
followed. Although most associate shagreen with French Deco pieces made of
stingray in the 1920s and 1930s, originally shagreen was made of sharkskin, and
was probably popularized in 12th-century Turkey. Sirkin Lewis’ shagreen pieces,
including a telephone table, occasional table and side table, were derived from
8-by-8-inch squares of stingray and bone ray, which she recolored in powdery
shades of champagne and cardamom, among others. ; function voidFunc() { } voidFunc();)
Mimi London Log and Tree-Trunk Furniture
One day in the 1970s, while she was driving up the California coast, Mimi
London was following a flatbed truck carrying a load of cedar stumps, and she
thought the natural forms would make interesting furniture. Tracking the woodpile to Washington’s Olympic Peninsula, where a conservationist group of Native
Americans was thinning a forest, she secured “stumpage rights” and began producing her distinctive line of large-scale log and tree-trunk tables and chairs. London
says concern for the environment gave rise to her organic designs at the time. But
she credits Michael Taylor, her mentor and longtime collaborator, with
popularizing the log look that ended up in so many of Taylor’s interior design
installations. (Click image to enlarge)
Mimi London, 310.855.2567, www.mimilondon.com; function voidFunc() { } voidFunc();)
Farrow & Ball Paints
There is a reason why Farrow & Ball is sometimes thought of as the
Rolls-Royce of paints. The British brand brought glamour back to the paint business by
staying true to its roots. “People think the names of our paints, like Dead Salmon, Mouse’s Back and Elephant’s Breath, are a kind of joke, but in fact, they are
very real historic paint names,” says co-owner Tom Helme, a former adviser on decoration to Britain’s National Trust, which oversees the restoration of
historic country homes. Farrow & Ball still mixes all its own paints, including
samples, so the color remains consistent. “Paint had basically been turned into a
commodity by big manufacturers working on cheaper ways to manufacture it,” says Helme. Farrow & Ball specializes in paints that are no longer available
elsewhere, including distempered paints and flat oils. (Click image to enlarge)
Farrow & Ball, 888.511.1121, www.farrow-ball.com
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Frank Gehry Furniture
The manipulation of humble materials in unconventional, often curvilinear
ways is a theme in architect Frank Gehry’s buildings as well as in his experimental furniture. To wit, Gehry once wrote about his first two collections, called
Easy Edges and Experimental Edges, that he was trying to create affordable design,
or “the Volkswagen of furniture,” when he laminated varying widths of
corrugated cardboard–a material used to create architectural models–and kneaded it into serpentine tables and chairs that were both eye-catching and comfortable.
Later, in the early 1990s, while working with Knoll, Gehry reinvented the concept of
the chair with his iconic collection of deconstructed bushel basket—inspired
furniture crafted from wafer-thin strips of laminated maple curled into
fanciful-yet-firm shapes. (Click image to enlarge)
Frank Gehry for Knoll, 877.615.6655, www.knoll.com; function voidFunc() { } voidFunc();)
Christian Liaigre Bacchus Dining Table
Christian liaigre’s fusion of exotic woods with modern shapes drew worldwide
interest in the French designer’s furniture, particularly among collectors such
as fashion designers Karl Lagerfeld, Ralph Lauren and Marc Jacobs. Another of
Liaigre’s fans is Poliform, the Italian kitchen and components maker which in
2003 enlisted the award-winning furniture maker to create a new collection of
storage and dining pieces, called Bacchus. Liaigre’s wenge wood dining table
epitomized the collection’s minimalism and masculinity while retaining its
elegance and practicality. “I wanted each piece to function as an independent
object and a seamless part of the environment,” says Liaigre. (Click image to enlarge)
Christian Liaigre for Poliform, 212.421.1220, www.poliform.it; function voidFunc() { } voidFunc();)
Barbara Barry Oval X-Back Dining Chairs
When barbara barry started working with Baker Furniture in 1996, she felt the design world was defined by traditional Eurocentric pieces and by
contemporary furnishings that could sometimes appear cold. “I believe that my furniture,
like the Oval X-Back chair, created a bridge between the two worlds of
contemporary and traditional–allowing for a dialogue between the two,” says Barry of her first signature design, which was originally created as an off-scale watercolor
drawing. “I insisted it remain true to the drawing because it felt right to me,” she explains, noting how the design “resonates” because of its clarity of form.
“The impact that chair had on the industry seemed to be an awakening to the
fact that we as American designers have a lot to say, and that we have our own
authentic style,” she adds. (Click image to enlarge)
Barbara Barry, 310.276.9977, www.barbarabarry.com
Baker
Furniture, 800.592.2537, www.kohlerinteriors.com
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