Willy Guhl 1970s Garden Planter Eliptical Shape
View Similar Items
Willy Guhl 1970s Garden Planter Eliptical Shape
About the Item
- Creator:Willy Guhl (Designer)
- Dimensions:Height: 7.88 in (20 cm)Width: 39.38 in (100 cm)Depth: 19.69 in (50 cm)
- Style:Mid-Century Modern (Of the Period)
- Materials and Techniques:Concrete,Machine-Made
- Place of Origin:
- Period:
- Date of Manufacture:1970
- Condition:Wear consistent with age and use.
- Seller Location:Stow on the Wold, GB
- Reference Number:Seller: ST15281stDibs: LU3784133071732
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.
- Sculptural Stainless Steel Bespoke garden Bench Seat Large Garden SculptureLocated in Stow on the Wold, GBBespoke made Stainless Steel garden bench seat of sculptural form. Wonderful quality. Beautifully made, the seat comprises of one piece stainless ...Category
Early 2000s English Brutalist Patio and Garden Furniture
MaterialsStainless Steel
- 1960s White Metal Midcentury Garden ChairLocated in Stow on the Wold, GBGood quality, very stylish midcentury garden chair. Wonderful garden chair, dates from the 1960s, made from plastic coated steel rod. In good vintag...Category
Mid-20th Century English Mid-Century Modern Chairs
MaterialsSteel
- Brutalist 1970s Concrete Garden Planter Plant Pot by Willow Lodge Crafts GlosLocated in Stow on the Wold, GBSolid concrete planter in the Brutalist style. Solid concrete with chiselled concrete decoration to the outside of the planter. It dates from the 1970s. Stamped to the inside of pot...Category
Mid-20th Century Planters and Jardinieres
MaterialsConcrete
- 1960s Very Large Hand Produced Studio Pottery SculptureLocated in Stow on the Wold, GBA very large and impressive one-off Studio Pottery sculpture. Hand produced earthenware sections that interlock to form a tower. Each section has been hand thrown, glazed and fired....Category
Mid-20th Century English Mid-Century Modern Abstract Sculptures
MaterialsPottery
- Hand Turned Afrormosia Wooden Pot 1950s SignedLocated in Stow on the Wold, GBWonderful, skilfully turned, hand produced wooden pot dating from the 1950s. Made from solid Afrormosia wood. Dated to the underside in pencil 9 /10/56. Lovely shaped 1950s pot S...Category
Mid-20th Century European Mid-Century Modern Urns
MaterialsTeak
- 1970s Caprice Shell Mobile Wind ChimeLocated in Stow on the Wold, GBWonderful caprice shell mobile from the 1970s. The mobile makes a wonderful delicate sound when the wind catches the caprice shells and they move and touch together. Acrylic top w...Category
Mid-20th Century English Hollywood Regency Mobiles and Kinetic Sculptures
MaterialsShell
- Swiss Planter by Willy Guhl, Produced by Eternit Brazil, 1960sBy Eternit, Willy GuhlLocated in New York, NYThis vase is part of the series of Eternit fiber-cement vases designed by Willy Guhl (1915–2004), the industrial design pioneer in Switzerland who also created the remarkable Loop ch...Category
Vintage 1950s Brazilian Mid-Century Modern Planters, Cachepots and Jardi...
MaterialsCement
- Tropical Planter by Willy Guhl, Produced by Eternit Brazil, 1960sBy Eternit, Willy GuhlLocated in New York, NYThis vase is part of the series of Eternit fiber-cement vases designed by Willy Guhl (1915–2004), the industrial design pioneer in Switzerland who also created the remarkable Loop ch...Category
Vintage 1950s Brazilian Mid-Century Modern Planters, Cachepots and Jardi...
MaterialsCement
- Willy Guhl Rectangular PlantersBy Willy GuhlLocated in Los Angeles, CAFantastic rectangular planters by Willy Guhl. Great for succulents and indoor planting. 4 available. Priced individually.Category
Vintage 1960s Swiss Planters and Jardinieres
MaterialsCement
$625 / item - Willy Guhl Half Moon Wall PlantersBy Willy GuhlLocated in Los Angeles, CARare concrete planters by Willy Guhl with factory drilled holes to hang on the wall. Semi circular front with faceted edges in back. Great vintage condition. 4 available. Priced indi...Category
Vintage 1960s Swiss Planters and Jardinieres
MaterialsCement
$1,450 / item - Willy Guhl for Eternit Rectangle Concrete Outdoor Planter, 1970s, SignedBy Eternit, Willy GuhlLocated in Los Angeles, CAThis designer on-trend architectural 23.75" long rectangular concrete planter is by Swiss architect Willy Guhl for Eternit, crafted in the 1970s Switzerland and signed and dated unde...Category
Vintage 1970s Swiss Mid-Century Modern Planters and Jardinieres
MaterialsConcrete
$650 Sale Price / item40% Off - Concrete Garden Furniture Attributed to Willy GuhlBy Willy GuhlLocated in SAINT-OUEN-SUR-SEINE, FRThis rare pair of planters was made by the Swiss designer, Willy Ghul in the 1950's in naturel fiber cement. It's the edition « Eternit AG/Elo, 1954 » which is shaped as an abstract triangle reminding a tooth shape. Willy Guhl was part of these historical designers historiques who have contributed to the international reputation of the Swiss design. He was one of the big representative of Neo-Functionalism. From a carpenter father, he follows a furniture maker formation in the Kunstgewerbeschule of Zurich – School of applied arts of Zurich here he teaches from 1941 -, and becomes the director of the interior architecture department 10 years after. He leads in the late 1940's pionneer reaserches in the plastic furniture field. He develops then a knowledge about moulding technical that we allow him to reveal himself by transposing them on a new material : the Eternit, also called fibercement, which he is one of the first to use in Europe. The Eternit is a kind of cement reinforce by asbestos and with a fiber texture which allows to create audacious pieces with new shapes. It takes the aspect of larges slabs to which it is possible to give a shape as long as they are not dried. Produced in the origin for the industry, it's a cheap material with an important resistance, so perfectly adapted for the fabrication of external furniture.Category
Vintage 1950s Swiss Mid-Century Modern Patio and Garden Furniture
MaterialsCement
$30,576 / set