Pair of Armchairs Model 789b ‘Captain’s Chair’ Designed by Josef Frank

Set of six chairs designed by Josef Frank for Svensk Tenn, Model 725. Sweden. 1938. Mahogany and original leather. Literature: Kristina Wängberg Eriksson, Jan Christer Eriksson, "Josef Frank Möbelformgivaren", Carlsson Bokförlag, Stockholm 2014, p. K 18 H: 90 cm W: 58 cm D: 63 cm SH: 43 cm Armrest height: 69 cm (at the highest point) Josef Frank was a true European, he was also a pioneer of what would become classic 20th century Swedish design and the “Scandinavian Design Style”. Austrian- born Frank started his design career as an architect after having trained at the Technische Hochschule in Vienna between 1903 and 1910. After his training he went on to teach at Kunstgewerbeschule (The Viennese School of Arts and crafts) where he developed and espoused the new school of modernist thinking towards Architecture and Design that was coming to fruition in Vienna at the time. He also went on to lead the Vienna Werkbund throughout the 1920s. This was a truly progressive group of Architects and Designers who set about improving the daily lives of Austrian people through modernist design and architecture in partnership with Arts and Crafts ideals and construction. Frank’s leadership of the Werkbund had already cemented his place at the forefront of European design. Frank’s time in Vienna was typified by his design for the “Die Wohnung” exhibition of the Deutscher Werkbund in Stuttgart, 1927 where he exhibited along side his contemporaries at the forefront of design, such as the likes of Le Corbusier and Walter Gropius. Here he showed a specially designed pair of flat-roofed reinforced concrete houses in what is now seen as a typical modernist style. What separated Frank’s house from the other 32 houses of the exhibition was the interior and furniture inside the building. It was described as “Neo-Classical” and filled with an eclectic mix of period pieces, modern design and pieces designed by Frank himself that seemed to cross the two worlds. This was a complete opposite direction to that which his fellow Architects were travelling in with their pared back and angular aesthetics. Frank said of his own work: “The house is not a work of art, simply a place where one lives,” and by this reasoning Frank rejected the regimental mechanisation of the living space that his contemporaries believed in, instead he set about creating congenial and spontaneous interiors. Frank’s practice saw him placing the bright colours and the soft forms of nature back into the furnishings and interiors that he thought modernism sorely mist. Frank, along with Oskar Walch set up Haus und Garten in Vienna in 1925. This was Frank’s first commercial foray into furniture and home furnishings and the company went on to become the most influential furnishing house in Vienna with a riotous depth of colour and interesting shapes becoming the trademark of their design. However this success was to come to an end with rise of Nazism in Vienna in the early 1930’s. Frank was Jewish, and he and his wife Anna decided they would leave Vienna for her motherland: Sweden, in 1933. Frank continued to design for Haus and Garten, visiting Vienna occasionally and designing the pieces that would continue to be the company’s best...

Armchair ‘The Red Chair’ Model 3758A designed by Kaare Klint for Rud. Rasmussen, Denmark, 1930s. Mahogany, leather upholstery, and brass. This example was produced after 1930. The design detailing of this magnificent chair...

Pair of armchairs “The Red Chair” designed by Kaare Klint for Rud. Rasmussen, Denmark, 1930. Oak, leather upholstery and brass. Stamped ‘RUD. RASMUSSENS SNEDKERIER 45 NORREBROGADE KOBENHAVN’ Literature: Gorm Harkær, Klintiana: “Kaare Klint”, vol. 2, ill. and mentioned p. 79–80. The design detailing of these magnificent chairs...

Pair of table lamps model 2466 designed by Josef Frank for Svenskt Tenn, Sweden, 1950s. Brass, lacquered brass and original fabric shades. Stamped. Josef Frank was a true European...

Armchair Captain's chair black Swedish 19th century Sweden. An armchair made during the end of 19th century. Painted in our signature Laserow Black.

Pair of armchairs model A413F by Josef Frank for Thonet-Mundus with bamboo backrest. Professionally stained and repolished.

Art Deco pair of vintage cherrywood armchairs or chairs attributed to Josef Frank, which were designed and made in Vienna circa 1927. A beautiful and joyful pair of chairs shows a sp...

A pair of Bamboo & Rattan Chairs designed in 1947 by Josef Frank in Sweden. The Austrian born architect is considered to be one of the most important figures in Swedish design. Fra...