A little progress.

I finally got a round to painting & staining the Form Group pieces the other day.  I painted the pieces for the base (base, 4 legs & leg supports) in black, & stained the pieces for the table top & seat.

Next step, gluing everything together, varnishing, then onto making cushions for the seat.

Some photos of the mock-ups in the living room. Both a 2 + 3 section combination (first photograph), or a 2 + 4 section combination (2nd photograph) seem to work well in this room.

Later this week I should be receiving V&A Pattern - The Fifties by Sue Prichard, which I'm very much looking forward to, I've also been looking at the 1940's & 50's wallpaper in the V&A's online archives recently for ideas & inspiration for the Gothenburg (+ I'm just a sucker for textile & surface design).

Links to some favourites in the V&A's archives:

Aagaard Anderson - Diana Armfield - Preben Dahlstrom - Lucienne Day - Jacqueline Groag - Roger Nicholson - Folke Sundberg - Shinkichi Tajiri - Mary White

Reprint & Interplan.

I was very pleased to find out that Lesley Jackson's Robin & Lucienne Day: Pioneers of Contemporary Design is being reprinted & will be out in August.  Definitely a must to pre-order.

Meanwhile I've been making a folder of other Robin Day items I'd like to attempt in 1:16, which includes the following:

• Interplan storage unit 
• Slatted bench/coffee table 
• Interplan sideboard

The Slatted bench/coffee table is listed as being by Brianco in the style of Robin Day here, but as a rare Hille piece designed by Day here.  My guess is the latter, either way, I love it. It's similar to George Nelson's Platform Bench, but with the lovely metal legs as seen on the Interplan storage unit that Christie's sold.

The sofa behind the bench at the twentyfirstcenturyretro link is also by Day - a daybed he designed for Hille.  It reminds me a lot of the sectional daybeds from the lovely 1958 Mattel Modern studio set.

I have about half of the Mattel Modern items produced, but only 1 of the sectional daybeds - which isn't in the best shape. It came in a cheap lot (which all my Mattel Modern items are from) that I bought over 5 years ago, most of the items were in good shape, but the daybed had lost its back & the seat cushion.

The Mame's don't care anyway, it's far too big for them.

Form Group in 1:16, Part 4

No progress yesterday, but I did take a photo of where I'm up to (with some Re-Ment miniatures).

All the pieces for a 2 section Form Group are cut & sanded.  I'll probably re-check the measurements on all the pieces again before I glue them.

I'm not sure what glue I already have or what will be best to use.  I made some kitchen, etc, counter tops for some Ikea Lillabo furniture from basswood a few years ago, & whatever glue I used worked well, I just wish I could remember what exactly I used.

Also, the Mame family will be expanding (again).  Two more will be travelling from Japan soon upping the number to 19. At least they have 3 dollhouses to inhabit now.

Form Group in 1:16, Part 3

I finished the mock-ups for the 3 & 4 section pieces this morning.  I made extra seats & cushions too (not pictured) so I could try out different combinations.

I still haven't made a cabinet section, I should try putting one of those together soon.

left - 2 section (with chair + seat cushion), back - 4 section (2 table tops + 2 chairs), right - 3 section (2 chairs + seat cushion).

I made a quick pattern for a seat cushion a couple of days ago & threw one together. It looks very scrappy (I didn't iron the fabric & stitched it, poorly, by hand) but I just wanted to get an idea of how it'd look.

I stuffed it with 2 layers of felt, though 1 layer might work better. I can't get to my sewing machine at the moment, but once I can i'll try making the 3 different sized cushions (back & base of chair, + seat cushion), do them properly, then see how they turn out. I think starching the fabric might help too.

I couldn't resist taking a photo with my Angie Lewin "Plants & Places" book (a birthday present from my friend) behind it to function as a wall with oversized wallpaper.  Miniature Angie Lewin prints, wallpaper &/or textiles (as well as miniature Mary White textiles) for my Gothenburg house would be so lovely, ah for a shrinking ray or Pym particles!

Form Group in 1:16, Part 2

My second mock-up of Form Group. I've reduced the back cushion & support in height & I think the proportions are looking better now.  I've also slightly adjusted the position of the legs. 

This time I used cut down matchsticks for the legs of the frame. I've glued them to the frame base, but (just for the mock-up) added thin strips of masking tape to join each side of the leg to the frame base to give added strength.  

I still haven't figured out how to construct the frame base, other than just glueing the legs directly on.  Done that way I think the legs would easily break off the base, & it would be tricky to glue them on at a clean right angle.

There must be a better way of doing it.  I might have had an idea this morning, it's something i'd have to actually test out in basswood though.  

I've had to rethink the cushions, adding a fabric cover to the polystyrene cushions will make them too bulky & I don't think there's any way of doing that as well as I'd like.  

The alternative is to make fabric cushions in 3 sizes (stool, seat base & seat back) constructed like pillow covers - with an opening in the center of the back, which I could insert squares of felt into to pad them out a bit.  I'm not sure how well this would work yet, I'll have to make some patterns & put some together, then see how it looks.  

For picture 3 I temporarily attached some Osnaburg fabric to the cushions to see how it looked, as this is what I'm considering making some test cushions from.  I wanted something to emulate the lovely slub tweed that has been used to reupholster this Form Group seating at Elephant & Monkey.

Form Group in 1:16, Part 1

Some photos of my first mock-up (in card, polystyrene & masking tape) of Form Group in 1:16 scale.

Mock-up #1 is supposed to be a 2 section piece (equivalent to the 4'8" frame) with a seat + table top.  It still needs some work - the back cushion needs to be reduced in height slightly, both the seat & back cushions need reducing by a millimetre or 2 to allow for the fabric cover, & the legs need a lot of work - currently they're too thick + i might make a slight adjustment on their position.

On the 4'8" frame, the legs are positioned about 1/6th of the width in on either side, on the 7' (3 section) & 9'4" (4 section) frames the legs are positioned differently, half way under the sections either side, with 2 extra legs at the centre of the 9'4 frame. Without having any Form Group seating to measure from, I've roughly judged the positions of the legs for the 1:16 version of the 4'8" frame, but I might have to go back to photos &  do some measuring to try & get the correct position for the legs.  

Next I'm going to work on a mock-up of a 3 section frame rather than re-do the 2 section, & see if I can get the back cushion & legs right (or better) 2nd time around.

Robin Day's Form Group modular seating.

For a few days I've been thinking i'd really like to try & make Robin Day's Form Group modular seating in 1:16 scale. Considering I've never made any miniature (or otherwise) furniture, it may be a tall order, but it's a simple shape at least.


       
Ideal Home magazine commissioned Day to design a living room (which appeared in their February 1960 issue) & this included Modulus, a range of modular seating, which was later renamed to Form Group when Hille began to manufacture it.

The Form Group seating has 8 basic elements:

• 3 black steel frames (4'8", 7' & 9'4")
• chair unit
• seat unit
• table top (which came in white or black melamine, teak or mahogany veneer)
• cabinet (which came in teak or mahogany veneer, & had a lift up lid)
• chair arm

So far all I've done is work out the measurements & convert to 1:16.  I think they're right - they're close to the dimensions of a vintage 1:16 couch I have.  I'm going to try making a mock-up in thick paper or card first, see how it looks, & make any adjustments if necessary, then if all is well, try making it in basswood.  I don't have any fancy tools - just the basics, blades, sandpaper, etc, but I'm hoping that will be enough for something that is all straight lines & simple shapes.

I thought the cushions might be tricky (being quite slim on the original seating anyway) but the box the Lundby Gothenberg arrived in had a load of polystyrene plates in it for padding (amongst other things) & I think they're the perfect thickness for the cushions (just 4mm thick) so I'm glad I saved them & didn't just throw them out.

Robin & Lucienne Day

It's a shame this is all the way down in Chichester - Robin & Lucienne Day Design & the Modern Interior exhibition at the Pallant House Gallery (until 26th of June 2011).

From April 11th they will have a Mervyn Peake A Centenary Celebration exhibition on show which would also be nice to see.

by strawberrysoup & bomo* at flickr

further links:

Interview with Lucienne Day (wallpaper.com)

Interview with Robin Day (abitare.it)

Robin & Lucienne Day (designmuseum.org)

Lucienne Day obituaries guardian.co.uk & independent.co.uk

Robin Day obituaries guardian.co.uk & independant.co.uk