French Round Fiber Cement Planter by Willy Guhl for Eternit

Pair of concrete planters by Willy Guhl for the Swiss company, Eternit. Guhl, a neo-functionalist designer and innovative furniture designer, came up with the idea of using concrete ...

Willy Guhl for Eternit concrete planters.

Willy Guhl for Eternit concrete planters.

This pair of planters, model "oreille d'éléphant" was made of fiber cement by Willy Guhl (1915-2004) in the 1950's. « Willy Guhl was an inventor, an experimenter, a resercher and a visionary. Despite that, he did not get lost in utopia. He reveals himself to be pragmatic almost a genius. » Robert Haussman 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.

Six planters or cache-pots in the form of cauldrons, « Marmite » model. Tripod base. Very fine natural patina.

"Marmite" planter designed by Willy Guhl for Eternit editions in the 1960s. Planter iconic by its design and the avant-garde of its conceptio...