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Bertoia Bench
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About this product
Architonic ID: 1166721
Year of Launch: 1952
Slats : solid wood pre-treated to help prevent sagging or
warping or in teak and acrylic stone.
Structure : Welded stainless steel rods, white or black
Rilsan.
Firm foam cushions can be upholstered in a variety of fabrics.
183cm W x 48cm D x 39cm H
Concept
Italian by birth, a sculptor, professor and furniture designer, Harry Bertoia channeled all his creative genius into the creation of the famous Diamond armchair for Knoll in 1952. Bertoia invented new forms and contributed to the evolution of furniture design, transforming steel rods into truly iconic works.
The Bertoia Chair in the outdoor version has a structure in welded steel rod, coated with Rilsan in white or black, while the Asymmetric Chaise models come only in white.
The collection also includes the Bertoia Bench with structure in stainless steel, black and white Rilsan coating and slats in acrylic stone or teak.
This product, with its simple lines, was the first designed by Harry Bertoia for Knoll. Though it does not have the grid, the welded metal base of the bench already offers a glimpse of Bertoia’s exploration of the material, forecasting the approach that would lead to the famous chairs created by Bertoia for Knoll.
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Specifications
Material
Base metal, Metal, Seat solid wood, Wood
Design files
12
Distributors
Designers
Harry Bertoia
United States
Harry Bertoia was an Italian-American artist, sculptor and contemporary furniture designer. His most famous piece is his Diamond Chair. Harry Bertoia biography Harry Bertoia was born in San Lorenzo, Italy, on 10 March 1915. Following a visit to his brother in the USA, he decided to emigrate, too, at the age of 15. He studied art and design at the Cass Technical High School, and explored jewellery design and painting. In 1936, Bertoia attended the Art School of the Detroit Society of Arts and Crafts, later renamed the College for Creative Studies. Shortly afterwards, he won a scholarship to study at the Cranbrook Academy of Art, where he met Walter Gropius as well as Charles and Ray Eames. In 1943, he moved to California, where he worked in the Eames office until 1946. In the 1950s, Bertoia teamed up with Florence Knoll, a fellow Cranbrook Academy graduate, who had a studio in Pennsylvania. It is here that he made his name by developing his steel-wire chairs – the Bertoia Collection – the Diamond Chair chief among them. Steel wire also formed the basis of his Bertoia 1055 sculpture, designed for Eero Saarinen’s MIT Chapel. From 1953 onwards, Bertoia focused solely on sculpture and goldsmithing. Diamond Chair Harry Bertoia developed the Diamond Chair from 1952 to 1953 for Knoll Associates in New York. He was interested in how steel rod could be used to create highly sculptural and fluid, and at the same time functional, forms. His Diamond Chairs, as Bertoia himself put it, are mostly made of air. ‘Space passes right through them.’ Still being manufactured by Knoll today, the sculptural form of the Diamond Chair is emblematic of the pared-down 1950s interior. Bird Chair The Bird Lounge Chair, designed by Harry Bertoia in 1952, results from his experiments in wire mesh. The organic form of the seat’s shell represents the culmination in his wire-frame furniture series for Knoll. The Bird Lounge Chair is a high-back variation on the Diamond Chair. © by Architonic
