Egon Riss for Isokon, Rare Original Vintage Penguin Donkey Mk 1, 1939, Birch Ply
By Isokon
Located in Wargrave, Berkshire
Egon Riss (1901-1964) Penguin Donkey, Mark 1 birch plywood 60cm wide, 43cm high, 42cm deep This original Isokon Penguin Donkey Mark 1 was designed by the architect Egon Riss in 1939 and made by Isokon, probably the most forward-thinking British furniture manufacturer of the 1930s, whose founder Jack Pritchard worked with the leading modernist designers and architects of the day to produce innovative furniture which have become design icons. Isokon furniture exploited the strength and lightness of bent plywood, and the Donkey is no exception. It was named the Donkey because of its organic, curvilinear shape with four legs and two 'panniers'. Books were stacked in the panniers while the space between them could be used for magazines and newspapers. In the late 1930s, the Penguin Donkey bookcase...
1930s British Mid-Century Modern Vintage Isokon Furniture
Birch, Plywood

















