Willy Guhl Conical Planters, 1950s

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Square Planter by Willy Guhl, Switzerland 1950s

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Willy Guhl Conical Planters, 1950s

About the Item

Concrete planters designed by Willy Guhl in the 1960s. In good original condition, with minor wear consistent with age and use, preserving a beautiful patina. Willy Guhl was a pioneer of industrial design in Switzerland, both as a result of teaching for many years at the Technical College in Zurich and through his many-sided practical work. He created a number of designs for Eternit: window boxes, a spindle-shaped standing ashtray, and a beach and garden chair, which is unique in the history of furniture design. After participating in the 1948 MoMA competition entitled “Low-Cost Furniture Design,” he began working with casts of the human body and ergonomically shaped shells for reclining chairs. While previous work with laminated wood had already yielded two-dimensionally shaped chair shells, fibrated concrete – not a material typically associated with furniture-making – afforded new possibilities that Willy Guhl turned to his best advantage. Fibrated concrete was manufactured in slabs with machines and was used for building houses. The method of processing the chair corresponds to the dimensions of these slabs, which were shaped directly after they had been pressed while still moist. Thus, production was inexpensive and required fewer materials. Because the composite material offered great resistance to breakage and exceptional tensile strength, supporting structures were no longer required, and thanks to statics there were few limitations on the form. So the design could be minimalist, rendering the elegantly curved, absolutely weatherproof chair nearly an abstract sculpture. The new leisure culture of the postwar era gave rise to the need for inexpensive, practical outdoor seating. At the same time, the chair is suggestive of interiors of the sixties and seventies, with their similar curved forms. Fibrated cement has not been used since the end of the seventies, when it was discovered that the asbestos it contains is a carcinogen. Willy GuhI’s chair was also affected by this discovery: one of the last known copies was to be included in the MoMA design collection, but was promptly sent back following the discovery that the chair contained asbestos.

Creator:
Willy Guhl (Designer)
Dimensions:
Height: 18.12 in (46 cm)Width: 24.81 in (63 cm)Depth: 24.81 in (63 cm)
Style:
Mid-Century Modern (In the Style Of)
Materials and Techniques:
Concrete
Place of Origin:
Switzerland
Period:
1950-1959
Date of Manufacture:
circa 1950
Condition:
Wear consistent with age and use.
Seller Location:
Barcelona, ES
Reference Number:
1stDibs: LU142722717452

Shop All Willy Guhl

Willy Guhl

Decades prior to the mass popularity of neo-industrial cement floors and furniture taking shape, there was Willy Guhl. The Swiss creative is considered one of the first “industrial” designers in his home country. He pioneered a rugged, organic style of modern furniture and decor — stylish planters, shapely seating and lots more — that remains widely coveted by many today.

Guhl was born in 1915 in Stein am Rhein and worked as a carpenter before beginning studies at the Zurich School of Applied Arts (known today as the Zurich University of the Arts), where he would go on to teach for nearly 40 years.

While Guhl is well-known for his range of provocative garden elements as well as his patio and outdoor furniture, today’s legion of mid-century modern enthusiasts are likely familiar with the designer’s iconic Loop chair (introduced in 1954). For this sculptural seat and other furnishings, Guhl tended toward industrial materials, which he bent and shaped into organic forms for a striking juxtaposition. Much of his work is crafted from either concrete or Eternit, a mixture of cement and asbestos developed by the Belgian company Etex, which, in the 1950s, commissioned Guhl and his students at the School of Applied Arts to conceive planters in the material. The resulting vessels — some hourglass-shaped, some in the form of handkerchiefs, all suitable for indoors or exteriors — remain some of Guhl’s most collectible pieces.

Guhl’s affiliation with the Swiss “neo-functional” movement centered on the idea of simplifying design without sacrificing form. According to Guhl, his mission was “achieving the most with the minimum of effort.”

In addition to his work as a designer, Guhl left his mark on subsequent creatives through his 39-year tenure at his alma mater, where he was instructor to the likes of Robert Haussmann, Kurt Thut and Bruno Rey. Modern-day shoppers at IKEA owe Guhl a debt of gratitude too. He was an early advocate of flat-pack furniture, championing its ability to make good design more widely accessible.

At its core, though, Guhl’s work was inherently human-centric: “At the center of my efforts, I put people and their living requirements,” he once said. “My products must be useful to people.” Guhl died in 2004 at the age of 89.

Find a range of vintage Willy Guhl furniture and decorative objects on 1stDibs.