Ghent loft
Tuesday, November 10th, 2009
Via OWI – Office for Word and Image. Photo: Vercruysse Frederik
Posts Tagged ‘chairs’
Aalto’s Villa Mairea in Finland
Saturday, June 20th, 2009
Alvar Aalto’s Villa Mairea in Noormarkku, Finland, built between 1937 and 1939 as a rural retreat, is considered one of the greatest houses of the 20th century. Japanese architect Shigeru Ban, who curated a major retrospective of Aalto’s work at the Barbican in London in 2007, has said that photographs give no real sense of Aalto’s buildings. Short of flying to Finland, though, photos are what we have at this moment. Flickr photos are by 08 ROTCH simoneau, Frans Drewniak (drz image), Siren Fay, Andrew Paul Carr, bttgcm, Ashley Wendell, David Gross and Ettubrutae. For further reading on this amazing house, there’s an excellent article on Aalto and Ban’s curation of his work at designbuild or look at Phaidon’s Villa Mairea Aid. The house shows evidence of Aalto’s various interests in Japanese design, in sustainable architecture, and in simple, natural materials used in an experimental way. Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater was also an influence, and you can see that here, but while I appreciate Fallingwater, I love Villa Mairea.
Click below for more photos.
The ladies of 20th century furniture design were offered to pose on fur rugs or ponies, which is why, we suppose, that photo was never to be.
Tuesday, January 20th, 2009
Left to Right: George Nelson, Edward Wormley, Eero Saarinen, Harry Bertoia, Charles Eames and Jens Risom
Photo from a 1961 Playboy article on 20th C “masters of design,” who are here dressed either as accountants or architects, it’s hard to tell which, but it’s a lot of zippers. Where were Ray Eames, Charlotte Perriand, Eileen Gray, Nanna Ditzel or any number of others? Was there even a moment of guilt or shame when this group was assembled? Via lushpad. Or click below for the whole article.
