Harry Bertoia coffee table for Knoll Germany

I bought this from a European dealer in the summer.
Thinking that it was cool because I have never heard about this particular piece, I picked it up and shipped here at a pretty hefty price.

Upon receiving it I looked into the history of the table.

There is none.

I have asked mid century dealers, specialists, the Bertoia Estate, auction house owners , and anyone in the design field for any info and have also scoured the web to no avail.

All I had to go from was the copy of a catalogue page that was undated and with no title.

Upon further investigation, I found out that the catalogue was a German Knoll planning piece from the mid 50's as I have an original copy of the North American example.  
I found the catalogue that I hoped was the one , given the timeframe and the photographs; a 1955 Knoll planning catalogue for Stuttgart (the German retailer at the time)

I found this on ABE ( the online book seller).   Unfortunately, the catalogue was sold (750 $ !)

Next step was to talk to a few specialists in the field.  One suggested a library search in the US in case there was a design library or arts library out there with a viewable copy.
After a bit of work, it seems the copy I had found on ABE was purchased by the MET in NYC.

From the website:

"The Thomas J. Watson Library, the central library of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, acquires, provides access to, and preserves research materials concerning the history of art and related disciplines.

The primary mission of the library is to support the research activities of the Museum staff; in addition, it serves an international community of researchers. Watson Library’s collection of books and periodicals relating to the history of art is one of the most comprehensive in the world."

An incredible reference for early or rare design and the only place it seems that has this catalogue example and is viewable to boot!

Relaying this information to James Zemaitis at Sotheby's in NY, he had a researcher look it up and lo and behold , the image from the catalogue!  

So , now I have an actual record of this piece which is rather exciting as it is still an unknown example of Harry Bertoia.   

Really unusual is the design of the piece.It seems as though Knoll was looking for designs that fit in the European market and obviously was looking to Jean Prouve at the time.

It looks as though this table is heavily influenced by Jean Prouve's table of the period.  The slightly tapered geometric legs, the use of solid oak, as well as the use of metal to work with wood.

I am thinking that the table was in the catalogue to appeal to the European aesthetic and was either received rather poorly or simply didn't make it into production.

The lack of any information from anywhere and this being the only known example is pretty exciting stuff.

I sent this off to Sotheby's for the December Important Design sale so keep an eye on it and I will update if any  further information becomes available.

CRAIGSLIST scammers.

I really hate selling on Craigslist but it helps sometimes if you have a very heavy and cumbersome item such as this Colombo poker table for Zanotta.

It seems that if you list something over 1000 dollars you get a lot of creeps out there wanting it and having some unusual story about how they cannot come to pick it up or how they can pay to be "safe and secure"
If someone tells you they want you to accept some type of payment to be "safe and secure" they are full of shit.

I kind of like these guys because you can fuck with them.  See below for my latest exchange with a "Geologist"


Good times.

A really nice vintage pair of Paulin Butteryfly lounges.
Designed in the 60's for ARTIFORT.  These have been re-issued like every other design in the world and are around 3800 each.   These vintage examples are cheaper and infinity times radder.

One of my favourite chairs which I used personally for maybe 10 years. 
No space for them now so selling : (

Incredibly comfortable contrary to the design it would seem .   These are great to sit in sideways and lounge out.  Very sculptural and architectural for something that you sit in.

I think I use sculptural and architectural too much of late.   I'll work on that.  Maybe that is just my aesthetic and I will not be able to get away from it....

NELSON DAF LOUNGE

Just picked this up.  A really nice example of a rare George Nelson form.

two tone examples were special ordered and are super duper.

ARREDOLUCE TENSION LAMP

Just sold this beauty.
An Arredoluce tension lamp.

Such high quality pieces these.      A pretty impressive and simple mechanism raises or lowers the lamp head and holds it in place at any position.
Travertine base and perfect chrome uprights are paired with a really industrial black textured finish.

An incredibly beautiful thing but really kind of useless as a lamp..    As an up lighter with the lamp head straight up the light is kind of spotlighty and harsh , and as a table lamp , the light is incredibly bright and with no shade burns,  your eyeballs.
A great little sculpture however but as a useful object..  not so much.

ARRIVEDERCI ARREDOLUCE!

BERTOIA wire form or "Zepplin"

So I picked up this super early Harry Bertoia wire form last month.  A really incredible piece.

This pre-dates Harry's later stainless wire forms and was the basis of many future works. 
The piece is comprised of numerous metal wires that are brazed at both ends .  One side has a copper washer , the other an open weld. 
Really interesting as it really shows his process of thought and creation .    This piece was probably an experiment of how the ends should be welded and here are two examples.   I will look into other zepplins he created to see how they are finished....

The ring in the middle and display  base was created by Harry's son Val last year.  It is not an original part of the sculpture and it is rather noticeable as the middle is copper and bright.   I wonder how this was actually shown when produced.   The later ring makes sense to hold the wires in place but when it was welded originally in the 1950's was there a ring that provided the support that this later piece did?

At any rate the piece is pretty interesting and really beautiful in it's simplicity and technique.

FIRST PRODUCTION EAMES ROCKER

So I will start the blog with one of my favorite pieces.

This is a very early Eames rocker.

The seat is produced by Zenith Plastics. The first producer of fiberglass arm-shells for Herman Miller in 1951.

These chairs were hand produced. They are identifiable by the rope surrounding the edge of the shell, hence the name rope-edge arm-shell.  These were placed in the body of the chair to allow the chair to be pulled from the mould easily.

These also have a transfer sticker that is typically referred to as the "checkerboard" label.  This example is chipped but you can see the idea.

I'll add a photo of the label below.

The colour of this chair is the most desirable , being sea-foam green.

Highly fibrous and very thick and heavy.  A very substantial feel to these chairs.

The rocker base of this chair is exceptionally rare.

The front rods of the rocker rods are crossed in the middle and are attached to the back side rails. 

These were discontinued very early in the production as they caught on peoples legs and were deemed uncomfortable.  Personally, I have never noticed this problem.  

Due to this fact, the base was made in very limited numbers. Less than 1000 of these in black and zinc were produced and if you are an Eames nerd it is a very big deal.

The base is finished on a solid birch rocker.