12 Brass Leg Dining Chairs by Louis Sognot for Arflex, Italy 1959, Published

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12 Brass Leg Dining Chairs by Louis Sognot for Arflex, Italy 1959, Published

About the Item

Fabulous set of twelve dining chairs designed by famed French artist, decorator and designer Louis Sognot (1892-1970) in 1959 for Arflex, Italy. The seating on this set of twelve chairs has been fully restored comprising new original high specification Pirelli rubber webbing, new high quality foam throughout, and finshed in high quality, Danish Kvadrat 'Hallingdal 65 '' wool fabric, color tone '0103' designed by famed Danish designer Nana Ditzel. The fabric has the correct Mid-Century Modern look and feel and is also extremely durable with a very high 100,000 martindale rub rating. . The beautiful, tapered form, brass legs are the deluxe option with swivelling ball joint feet to accomodate uneven floor surfaces. We have sympathetically hand polished the legs and they now look lovely , please be aware that small insignificant marks ie light small scratches in the brass may still exist commensurate with originality age and use, it is completely unrealistic to assume that genuine chairs which are now over 50 years old will have perfect mark free brass legs. The sympathetic restoration involved stripping each chair back to its bare tubular steel frame. We have photos of the entire restoration process including stripping down of the original chairs with worn original fabric. We have managed to retain the original Arflex fabric labels which have been reattached to the underside of the seats. This beautiful Sognot model is illustrated in an original 1962 Arflex catalog, which we have in our library, where this model is confirmed as designed by Louis Sognot. In addiiton the catalog states this model was available in two options, either with luxurious brass legs or with cheaper black enameled legs. This set feature the luxury brass leg option which have a beautifully elegant tapered profile finished off with swivel joint feet to take up irregular floor surfaces. Maurice Rinck edited another variant of this model for Sognot in France but only with the cheaper black enameled legs to suit the more rationalist taste of the French during this period .The Rinck edition featured alongside the luminaires of Serge Mouille at the 1960 'Salon des arts menagers in Paris', please see scan of page, image 2 in this listing. Patrick Favardin's tome on French midcentury design 'les decorateurs des annees 50' also confirms both the Arflex,Italy and Rinck editions. The Arflex brass leg version was also documented in the Italian design journal 'Rivista dell Arredamento' in 1963. Please see literature references below which will be made available to seriously interested clients. Literature :- Original ARFLEX manufacturer's catalog , 1962 , (illustrates example with red upholstery and brass legs) and documents Sognot as the designer. The catalog confirms two sales options were originally avaible, either the luxury option with brass legs or with cheaper black enamelled legs. 'RIVISTA DELL ARREDAMENTO' issue number 105, 1963, page 32. 'LES DECORATEURS DES ANNEES 50', FAVARDIN, page 163, NORMA EDITIONS 2002 documents the variant with black enamelled legs edited by Maurice Rinck with black enamelled legs at the Maurice Rinck stand at the 1960 'salon des arts menagers' alongside the luminaires of Serge Mouiie. The text also confirms that Arflex produced the brass leg variant for Sognot. PLEASE SEE IMAGE 2 ============================================================ Sognot was an early protagonist of Cubism and the Modern Movement but soon began to stand out by moving away from the radicalism of functionalism to assert some idea of ??comfort and quality, this singular position explains his dual involvement both as member of the 'l'Union des artistes de´corateurs, cre´ateurs, ensembliers' and of the ' l'Union des artistes modernes'. Sognot studied at the Ecole Bernard Palissy and learned cabinetry at the famed JANSEN workshops. He moved on to run the famed PRIMAVERA workshop which was one of the founding sites of the Art Deco movement who allowed him to present his first collection of furnitue at the 'Salon d'Automne' et au 'Salon des artistes de´corateurs' in Paris. Sognot soon became inspied by the modernist movement and his creations soon began to show the influences of cubism, notably a collection of furniture he presented at the Primavera pavillion at the 1925' l'Exposition internationale des Arts de´coratifs et industriels modernes'. At this time he discovered the achievements of Robert Mallet- Stevens and Francis Jourdain who thei influence can be seen in his output of this period. Although influenced by the tubular steel furnitue created by Marcel Breuer, Louis Sognot soon found his own style in the Modern Movement during the late 1920s. In association with Charlotte Alix, he invented many sets of metal furniture but lookined to escape the " clinical Style" to reconcile with the quality of the French tradition of the 'Salon decorators' . He added the use of other materials such wood, wicker, leather or colored fabrics. This furniture was widely acclaimed by the critics of the time because they seem to reconcile industrial production with individual decoration. 1937 marked a new milestone for Sognot, at the ''Exposition internationale des arts et des techniques' he presented for the first time a series of high quality modern furniture available for the pockets of the middle classes. In 1939 the war interrupted Sognot's nascent attempts in the democatization of high quality design to the masses. From 1945, Sognot worked in partnership on several projects with Rene Gabriel and Jaques Dumond as part of the the process of rebuilding a largely destroyed France, such as the design with Dumond for .a modern apartment in the International Exhibition of Urban Planning and Housing in 1947. Sognot remained active until the 1960s, in 1958 he designed a series of luxurious pieces for Maurice Rinck that were exhibited at the 'l'Exposition universelle' alongside the light sculptures of Serge Mouille. In 1960 his designs again edited by Maurice Rinck including this design of dining chair appear in a photo taken of Rinck's exhibition stand ,again alongside the light sculptures of Serges Mouille, at the 1960 'Salon des arts menagers'.

Creator:
Louis Sognot (Designer),Arflex (Manufacturer)
Dimensions:
Height: 31.7 in (80.5 cm)Width: 18.31 in (46.5 cm)Depth: 22.64 in (57.5 cm)Seat Height: 17.92 in (45.5 cm)
Sold As:
Set of 12
Style:
Mid-Century Modern (Of the Period)
Materials and Techniques:
Brass,Linen,Rubber,Steel,Wool
Place of Origin:
Italy
Period:
1950-1959
Date of Manufacture:
1959-1963
Condition:
Reupholstered. Wear consistent with age and use. The seating has been fully restored, chairs stripped back to their bare frames and restored with original specification materials; new Pirelli rubber webbing,new high quality foam, Danish 'Hallingdal' fabric. Brass legs have been hand polished.
Seller Location:
bergen op zoom, NL
Reference Number:
1stDibs: LU930126791622

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Arflex

From its unorthodox beginnings, Italian manufacturer Arflex grew into one of the leaders of 20th-century furniture design. Its furniture came to be known for its integration of new materials and bold appeal, and today a variety of vintage Arflex chairs, sofas and tables are emblems of mid-century modernism.

Arflex was established in Milan in 1947 by Pirelli employees Carlo Barassi, Pio Reggiani, Renato Teani and Aldo Bai. Barassi, a Milan Polytechnic graduate and visionary engineer at the Italian tire manufacturer, explored innovative technology and new uses for synthetic materials in domestic products (for Kartell, he codeveloped a ski rack for automobiles). The four founders partnered with a young architect named Marco Zanuso, who also desired to create furniture that featured an application of novel materials such as elastic tape and polyurethane foam.

One of Arflex’s inaugural pieces was Zanuso’s Lady armchair, a seat made of polyurethane foam that was manufactured in pieces and assembled at the very end of the production process. It won a gold medal at the 1951 Milan Triennale. A couple of years later, Arflex collaborated with Studio BBPR to create the office-chic Elettra and Neptunia chairs. The flourishing furniture company quickly established a reputation for compelling products and attracting and working with up-and-coming designers such as Roberto Menghi, who created Hall, a luxurious line of seating that would earn the Compasso d’Oro – Honorable Mention in 1959.

In the 1960s, Arflex continued to welcome the use of new and cutting-edge materials. Popular designs from this decade include Carlo Bartoli's fiberglass and polyester resin Gaia lounge chair and Cini Boer’s Bobo Relax lounger, one of history’s first seating pieces made of polyurethane foam (it has no internal frame). Boer, a pioneer of furniture design in Italy, also created the Strips sofa for the brand in 1972. Part of a plush modular seating system, the Strips sofa became an Arflex icon and was awarded the Compasso d'Oro in 1979.

Arflex continues to work with innovative designers to this day. Among their more recent collaborations is with Swedish design studio Claesson Koivisto Rune. The company's legendary creations are also on display at museums worldwide. The Lady chair, for example, is in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.

On 1stDibs, you can find a collection of vintage Arflex lounge chairs, armchairs, coffee tables and other furniture.