Polia Pillin Cup

Catalog accompanying an exhibition held in the United States in 1961, sponsored and published by the Japan Export Furniture Manufacturer Association (JEFMA), a trade organization of 48 leading furniture makers in Japan, in collaboration with their government-run National Industrial Arts Institute, with the dual purpose of stimulating the production of Japanese “Good Design” in furniture, and introducing the results to the U.S. market. According to the introduction to this, the second iteration of this exhibition, “it is full three years since the First Exhibition was held in the United States in 1958…these recent years, we Japanese furniture manufacturers have increasingly equipped with facilities for mass production, so that we are now in a position to offer the products of better quality at lower prices. At the same time we have been making efforts to create furniture of graceful design with Oriental taste, using Japanese traditional craftsmanship. We have mainly selected the furnitures which are ready for mass production, and added some pieces of Japanese taste.” The 24 page catalog presents chairs, tables, and case pieces by prominent Japanese architects and designers including Katsuo Matsamura, Taichiro Nakai, Kozo Asari, Hideo Saito, Takeshi Mineo, Yujiro Yamaguchi, Ryuchi Ise, Fukuji Suzuki, Masaharu Ito, Keisuke Nakamura, Yo Yamagishi, Shigeru Imai, Shiro Kodo, Tadao Kawanami, Akira Sogi, Tomoichi Yoshida, Sori Yanagi, Taichiro Nakai, Toshio Miyake, Motoi Kojima, Fukui Suzuki, Akira Takayabu, Selichi Watanabe, and T. Nii, along with works from the Industrial Arts Institute and an armchair by American ex-pat Noemi Raymond, wife of architect Antonin Raymond. Manufacturers include. Manufacturers represented in the exhibition include Akita Mokko Co, Bokai Industry Co, Fuji Furniture Co, Haneda, Kosajujo Co, Inada & Co, Iwai Kogyo Co, Imada Mokko Co, Kobe Wood Chemics Assoc., Kosuga & Co, Kotobuki Seating Co, Kobyashi Fukuzo & Co, K.K. Shimada Seisakusho, Kubo Shoten Co, Kassai Manufacturing Co, Miyoshi Mokko Co, Okamura Mfg. Co, Sakigake Furniture, Santa Kogyosho Corp, Tendo Mokko, Tsuji Mokko Co, Tottori Kagu Kogyo Co, Taihei Mokko Co, Toki Mokko Co, Toyohashi Mokko Co, Yamaguchi Co...

Second edition of this compendium of radical and post-modern design produced by the Tuscan-based firm Poltronova from its early collaborations with Ettore Sottsass, who became Art Director in 1958, through the heyday of 1960’s anti-design and to the mid-1970s. Features work by both Old Guard masters and emerging leaders of the Radical Movement including (in addition to Sottsass) Archizoom, Superstudio, Sergio Asti, Gae Aulenti, Angelo Mangiarotti, Allesandro Mendini, Massimo and Lella Vignelli, Gianni Ruffi, Giovanni Michelucchi, Gianfranco Fini, Mario Ceroli, Ugo Nespolo, Roberto Barni, Paolo Portoghesi, Gino Marotta, and the group De Pas, D’Urbino, and Lomazzi. Written by Pier Carlo Santini and published by Artigraf Edizioni in 1996, following its initial run in 1977. 4to, 181 pages with text in Italian; stiff printed wraps with printed brown paper dust jacket. Fully illustrated, primarily in black-and-white. Includes artist biographies. A scarce and significant resource chronicling the contribution of this avant-garde design firm. A crisp, collectible copy with only minor bumping to the dust jacket and extremities. From the estate of design guru Jim Walrod...

Contemporary set of sterling silver Shabbos cups and matching round tray in a blue velvet box (marked with inititals: AJS; SAFRA)

This limited edition glass cup memorializes the accession and imminent abdication of King Edward VIII. Titled the Prince of Wales on his 16th birthday, Edward was crowned King of England in January 1936, but famously and scandalously abdicated his throne after less than a year in order to marry the American divorcee and socialite Wallis Simpson...