Inspiration : colour & metal framed chairs.

More inspiration from Elle Decoration (more metal framed chairs, & more bright colour <3).    This time from the January 2015 issue, which featured a small guesthouse in Bethnal Green, designed by the Danish designer Nina Tolstrup & husband Jack Mama of STUDIOMAMA, & some very dashing orange metal framed chairs which grabbed my attention.

I'd just been admiring Pepper's gorgeous orange kitchen for her Fenton Lodge & thought of her when I saw the chairs.

Love the Danish daybed/sofa (which reminds me so much of the 1958 Mattel Modern sofa) & the blue bench/coat rack.

I'd only seen one thing by STUDIOMAMA before - the On Off clock made for Lexxon in 2006, but lots more products & furniture can be seen at their website.  I really like their pewter bowls & love the orange Re-Imagine chairs they used in their guesthouse. 

 

For their Re-Imagine chair they took salvaged chairs that they found in a pile near their East London studio. The chairs were stripped down to their frames before new seats, backrests & armrests were added, then finished with colourful paint and upholstery.

Photos: by Ben Anders from dwell.com, via emilyescaped.co.uk, studiomama.com, & dezeen.com.

This morning I swapped out the windows from my new set - the shutters on my original house are a deeper & slightly less orangey red than the shutters on the new window + my original frames are a lot whiter, so I swapped out the panes from the new window & put them in my old frame with the original shutters.  I was a bit worried that in trying to get them out I'd crack the plastic or snap off the hinge nobs.  They were difficult to get out, but thankfully there were no breakages & the window is now ready to go back in the house.  One tiny step forward!

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.

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