Wary Meyers: chairs

Showing posts with label chairs. Show all posts

11.05.2013

Why design another chair?

Selections from the 1977 American Institute of Architects International Chair Design Competition. There's absolutely no need for more chair designs in the world; nonetheless this does make me want to get out a pencil and join in.

From "Chair" by Peter Bradford and Barbara Prete (1978)- which, if you're into chairs....

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7.08.2012

Eames bent plywood child's chairs

Wow. Stacked in their factory, circa 1949.

From Portfolio Magazine #2, 1950

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7.01.2012

Ah fixed that chaiah

Yard sale: 1962 Eames chair from an old Mainer estate with then-practical-/now-frustrating drain hole drilled into the seat.
I really don't mind though- it adds context and reminds you that these things were not made to be precious. Plus now we can keep it outside.

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4.25.2012

Growing Up Absurd

The Wary Meyers Kids Shop opens next week!

Above: Wary Meyers Tongue Chair©
A children's chair we customized with new paint job and removable long vinyl tongue cushion.
Makes for totally cute sight when sat upon, and totally fun sound effects when played with.

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11.10.2011

1953 NCO DCM

January 1953 Eames DCM (Dining Chair Metal), originally belonging to an NCO (Non Commissioned Officers) Mess Hall. It came into our hands with a 25 cents sticker on it, from a weekend yard sale- but- no one bought it, so it was left on the side of the road with some other stuff and a "free" sign. Our landlord spotted it on a Tuesday, and put it in his truck. After doing some work at our place I walked out with him and said "Woah!" then I traded a lamp for it, which, as Linda tells me, we had already given him a couple years earlier. Crazy!

I love Eames, and I also love old Army stuff, and typography, markings, etc... so the bottom of the chair is especially cool. I'm not sure what the Eames "0 #7" -stamped above "1 53"-means, or the Army (Navy?)"1 35". Or the masking tape on the rod in front of the "DCM" embossment. The biggest mystery though is why no one bought it for a quarter. Is it a Magic chair that had to make its way to us? The Force? That aside, imagine what that Mess Hall looked like!

Related- Fort Bragg NCO mess hall in 1954- cool, but not as cool without the Eames:

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10.26.2011

Bentwood Baby Chair at Design Research, 1968

with either a cane or elm seat, $18

From Esquire Magazine's Holiday Gift Guide, 1968. Time machine please.

Related:
Design Research: The Company That Brought Modern Living to American Homes.

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8.10.2011

Wary Meyers x Alice Cooper x Alvar Aalto

Aalto knock-off stools carved up with the desktop graffiti from Alice Cooper's 1972 album School's Out.

Basically this started out as an exercise in aging wood to a nice honeyed patina- making the originally brand new, very pale wood stools look like we've had them for years and years- but taken to a whimsical extreme. We sanded them down, nicked them up, cut slices off, carved in the markings, initials, and tattoo, stained them, tinted them, and polyurethaned them. All done by hand with no electric anything.

The stool is featured in our book Wary Meyers' Tossed & Found and now two are available in our shop. So if you're a fan of Alvar Aalto, Alice Cooper, and us, this is the stool for you!

related:
a typography spread from our book

School's Out lp

Alice photo via Mrs. Gorman

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2.08.2011

Kids' Stuff

Pages from the 1979 book "Kids' Stuff" by Linda Foa and Geri Brin.

Besides "Children's Spaces" by Norman McGrath (later) this is our favorite book about kids' design. If you judged Kids' Stuff by its crazy cover you'd probably never open it, but inside it's like a kid's version of High Tech, the 70's industrial-style home design sourcebook, with hundreds brilliantly designed things, like chairs, tables, lamps, storage, drawer pulls, tents, ropes... all photographed either on seamless, on a Superstudio-esque grid, or in the cool NYC apartments of the authors and their friends. One of my favorites is the table from Scandinavian Design (above), used as a changing table, and "actually billed as a writing desk by the manufacturer". The book's acknowledgements mention a heavy thanks to designer Joe D'Urso and design author Barbara Plumb, and it shows. Also it's a sourcebook itself, so it tells you what everything is, how much it cost, and where it was available. Everything that is except the incidental decor in the kids' rooms, notably this girl's ball-bearing based, plastic sphere-encased, self-levelling desk lamp (below).