Hay and furniture manufacturer Ahrend are reproducing a collection of chairs and a table, originally designed by Friso Kramer and Wim Rietveld in the late 1950s. The Result Chair and Pyramid Table were typically used in Danish schools throughout the 1960s and 70s, and were designed by Kramer and Rietveld – son of Gerrit Rietveld – while they were both working for Ahrend. The collaboration between Danish brand Hay and Ahrend has been ongoing, but it was after Hay co-founder Rolf Hay paid a visit to the manufacturer's chief executive Eugène Sterken that this particular project came about. "I always liked the chair. My wife and I went to Frieze art fair in London, and we could see the galleries were starting to discover it," Rolf told Dezeen at Stockholm Design Week, where the collection is being launched. "Ahrend is an office furniture manufacturer, and they buy a lot of stuff from Hay for projects," he continued. "By coincidence, I met with the CEO and I approached him with the idea of whether we could acquire the production rights for this product."
The two companies then collaborated on reproducing both the chair and the table, making sure each piece stayed true to its original construction and use of materials. Made up of thin steel-sheet bases, and a fine oak seat and backrest, the Result Chair is designed to be light while being strong and retaining a level of flexibility. Similarly, the Pyramid Tables – which can be stacked one on top of the other – feature steel sheet bases with oak table tops. As well as the two original designs, the brands have also developed a bench and a table with a round top. "When you do something like this it's about respecting what it was. We just made it 15 millimetres higher than it was, but that's more or less the only thing," said Rolf, who founded Hay along with his wife Mette in 2002. "In many ways, I think it fits Hay quite well because the approach to the project is very industrial. It was originally about mass production through working with thin steel sheets," he added.
With interest in mid-century furniture showing no signs of slowing, the past year has seen a boom in design reissues, from the pioneering creations of the Danish modernists to the icons of Le Corbusier. More recently, American brand Bernhardt Design released a collection of furniture by Charles Pollock that represents the mid-century designer's last work. The Result Chair and Pyramid Table are on show at this year's Stockholm Furniture Fair, which is taking place as part of a city-wide design week until 11 February. Other projects on show include a loop-shaped lamp inspired by a mini-golf obstacle and a striped flooring collection designed by Jean Nouvel for Bolon.Reading Joel Moskowitz's recent piece on building flatpack furniture reminded me of my first encounter with plywood furniture that could be built with a minimal number of tools. I had been given a book called How to Make Furniture without Tools, which contained designs for simple but functional tables, chairs, cabinets, and beds.
Published in 1975, it was written by Clement Meadmore, a famed Australian metal sculptor who was greatly interested in modern furniture. The book stood out for a couple of reasons, the furniture could be assembled without tools and each design utilized 100% of a sheet of plywood. The only waste was the sawdust generated while cutting the pieces—which would be done at the lumberyard on a vertical panel saw. This was before the era of the big box store, when the neighborhood lumber yard would cut plywood and sheet goods for a nominal charge. I was a novice woodworker and did not know much about building furniture, but could tell Meadmore knew even less. And that was fine, because I was more interested in learning the dimensions and proportions that worked for furniture than I was in using Meadmore's methods of construction. He said to assemble the pieces with butt joints and carpenter's glue, and to weight the joints in lieu of clamping. Carpenter's glue is great stuff, but not for a butt joint, which in the absence of fasteners or joinery (dado, mortise, biscuit, etc.) is terribly weak.
Meadmore probably knew better but it would have spoiled the title of his book to call it How to Build Furniture with a Hammer. When I built his designs I nailed and glued or screwed the joints. If I were to build it today I'd probably use biscuits and/or pocket screws—or with interlocking thru joints if I had access to a CNC machine.I thought of this furniture as disposable, using it for however long I needed it and then taking it apart and reusing the plywood. Over a period of years I built platform beds, chairs, and tables based on Meadmore's designs—doing my own cutting and altering dimensions and details to suit my needs. I built several versions of the arm chair on the cover of the book, which with its low seat, sloped back, and wide arms reminded me of the Adirondack Chair patented in 1905. My favorite modification was to widen and brace one or both arms so they functioned as built-in side tables.It wasn't until years later, during a trip to NYC, that I discovered the source of Meadmore's design.
I was at the Museum of Modern Art's permanent furniture collection when I saw a colorful chair with the shape and proportions of the one I had built so many of. It was Gerrit Rietveld's iconic "Red-Blue" chair. Designed and built in 1918, the original was made from unstained beech. Rietveld later produced versions that were painted or stained black or white. It was not until 1923, when inspired by the work of fellow Dutchman Piet Mondrian, that he painted it red, blue, yellow, and black.The chair was intended to be mass produced but was never produced in anything more than small batches. I have no idea how many such chairs were made at the time, but the design continues to be produced to this day. Google "Rietveld Red-Blue Chair" and you'll find all manner of originals, reproductions, kits, and construction plans for sale. And that leaves out all the designs inspired by the original—like ones made from Lucite or ones where some of the pieces are turned on a lathe. Design Within Reach sells a miniature display version of $290, which strikes me as funny because for that amount you could buy the material to build a dozen Meadmore chairs.