Set of 6 Harry Bertoia Design Chairs for Knoll
View Similar Items
Set of 6 Harry Bertoia Design Chairs for Knoll
About the Item
- Creator:Harry Bertoia (Designer),Knoll (Manufacturer)
- Design:
- Dimensions:Height: 28.75 in (73.03 cm)Width: 21.75 in (55.25 cm)Depth: 19.75 in (50.17 cm)Seat Height: 17.75 in (45.09 cm)
- Sold As:Set of 6
- Style:Mid-Century Modern (Of the Period)
- Materials and Techniques:
- Place of Origin:
- Period:
- Date of Manufacture:1980s
- Condition:Wear consistent with age and use. some rust wear and tear due to age.
- Seller Location:San Diego, CA
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU936631563882
Bertoia Side Chair
When Hans and Florence Knoll invited Italian-American artist Harry Bertoia (1915–78) to move from California to Pennsylvania in 1950 to work with their new design firm, they did not ask him to develop any specific pieces but instead to investigate whatever interested him. That open-ended experimentation led to the 1952 Bertoia Side chair, which was fitted with a fluid metal lattice that gave the seating an ethereal quality. Bertoia considered his collection of chairs created for Knoll Associates to be “mainly made of air, like sculpture,” as he bent steel wire into striking lightweight forms.
While these chairs were innovative in their use of industrial materials, they also had a progressive approach to the ergonomics of seating. Bertoia had previously collaborated with Charles and Ray Eames on molded plywood chairs — what would become the LCW (Lounge Chair Wood) — yet was miffed by the lack of credit for his work. He went on to take a job in engineering for the human body at the Point Loma Naval Electrical Lab in La Jolla, California, during which he created metal sculptures in his spare time. The opportunity from Knoll, another of his former classmates at the famed Cranbrook Academy of Art in Michigan — Bertoia met the Eameses and Knoll and later taught metalworking there — gave him the time and space to devote himself to his own ideas independently. And, as with all Knoll designers, he would get named recognition for his designs.
In a garage in Bally, Pennsylvania, he set up his metal shop and developed ideas for the welded steel grids he would use in his seating. At the time, most chairs were constructed from wood; Bertoia saw the potential for graceful and comfortable designs in the strong material of metal. Along with the Bertoia Side chair, he created the Diamond chair with a diamond pattern in its metalwork and the undulating Asymmetric Chaise (which was too complicated to manufacture until 2005), all with the transparent volume that gives his metal furniture a sense of floating.
Although he would shift to making art rather than furniture, Bertoia still worked on a number of sculptural and architectural designs for the Knoll Planning Unit in the years that followed. Knoll, Inc. has produced the Bertoia Side chair since it was introduced, with its durable materials and optional upholstery or seat covers that can be snapped on and off, making it popular for indoor and outdoor seating.
Harry Bertoia
Sculptor, furniture and jewelry designer, graphic artist and metalsmith, Harry Bertoia was one of the great cross-disciplinarians of 20th-century art and design and a central figure in American mid-century modernism. Among furniture aficionados, Bertoia is known for his chairs such as the wire-lattice Diamond chair (and its variants such as the tall-backed Bird chair) designed for Knoll Inc. and first released in 1952.
As an artist, he is revered for a style that was his alone. Bertoia’s metal sculptures are by turns expressive and austere, powerful and subtle, intimate in scale and monumental. All embody a tension between the intricacy and precision of Bertoia’s forms and the raw strength of his materials: steel, brass, bronze and copper.
Fortune seemed to guide Bertoia’s artistic development. Born in northeastern Italy, Bertoia immigrated to the United States at age 15, joining an older brother in Detroit. He studied drawing and metalworking in the gifted student program at Cass Technical High School. Recognition led to awards that culminated, in 1937, in a teaching scholarship to attend the Cranbrook Academy of Art in suburban Bloomfield Hills, one of the great crucibles of modernism in America.
At Cranbrook, Bertoia made friendships — with architect Eero Saarinen, designers Charles and Ray Eames and Florence Schust Knoll and others — that shaped the course of his life. He taught metalworking at the school, and when materials rationing during World War II limited the availability of metals, Bertoia focused on jewelry design. He also experimented with monotype printmaking, and 19 of his earliest efforts were bought by the Guggenheim Museum.
In 1943, he left Cranbrook to work in California with the Eameses, helping them develop their now-famed plywood furniture. (Bertoia received scant credit.) Late in that decade, Florence and Hans Knoll persuaded him to move east and join Knoll Inc. His chairs became and remain perennial bestsellers. Royalties allowed Bertoia to devote himself full-time to metal sculpture, a medium he began to explore in earnest in 1947.
By the early 1950s Bertoia was receiving commissions for large-scale works from architects — the first came via Saarinen — as he refined his aesthetic vocabulary into two distinct skeins. One comprises his “sounding sculptures” — gongs and “Sonambient” groupings of rods that strike together and chime when touched by hand or by the wind. The other genre encompasses Bertoia’s naturalistic works: abstract sculptures that suggest bushes, flower petals, leaves, dandelions or sprays of grass.
As you will see on these pages, Harry Bertoia was truly unique; his art and designs manifest a wholly singular combination of delicacy and strength.
Find vintage Harry Bertoia sculptures, armchairs, benches and other furniture and art on 1stDibs.
- Pair of Custom Diamond Bertoia Chairs for Knoll American Mid CenturyBy Knoll, Harry BertoiaLocated in San Diego, CAGreat and rare pair of Harry Bertoia diamond chairs, with original seat pads and original chrome bases, we have the tops sandblasted and powder coated in green, they look great with ...Category
20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Armchairs
MaterialsMetal, Chrome
$2,060 Sale Price / set20% Off - Pair of Handkerchief Armchairs Designed by Massimo Vignelli for Knoll StudioBy Knoll, Massimo VignelliLocated in San Diego, CAA great pair of armchairs designed by Massimo Vignelli for Knoll, circa 1983, for Knoll studio in great condition, black on black the seats are very clean these chairs are nice and c...Category
20th Century American Post-Modern Chairs
MaterialsMetal
- Krefeld Lounge Chair Designed by Mies Van Der Rohe for KnollBy Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, KnollLocated in San Diego, CAGreat design on this arm chair in original ultrasuede fabric nice condition some light wear nice and comfy.Category
20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Club Chairs
MaterialsUltrasuede
$1,596 Sale Price35% Off - Set of Four Chrome & Leather "Polar" Chairs by Esko Pajamies for Lepo FinnBy Esko PajamiesLocated in San Diego, CASet of four chrome and leather "Polar" chairs by Esko Pajamies for Lepo Finn, circa 1960s. This very rare set has been professionally re-chromed and re-upholstered in black leather...Category
Mid-20th Century Finnish Scandinavian Modern Chairs
MaterialsChrome
- Set of Four Armchairs by Ettore Sottsass for Knoll Memphis EraBy Knoll, Ettore SottsassLocated in San Diego, CANice set of four Mandarin chairs designed by Sottsass for Knoll, in red fabric on foam black enameled tubular legs and silver pipping arms, simple and elegant by this master architect.Category
Late 20th Century Italian Post-Modern Armchairs
MaterialsMetal
$1,980 Sale Price / set20% Off - Postmodern Set of 4 Italian Fan Back Chairs by Pietro CostantiniBy Pietro CostantiniLocated in San Diego, CASet of four tall back Italian chairs by Pietro Costantini, circa 1990s in black lacquer glossy finish and handstitched black leather seat, soli...Category
Late 20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Chairs
MaterialsLeather, Wood, Lacquer
$1,800 Sale Price / set20% Off
- Set of Four Harry Bertoia Designed Child Chairs for KnollBy Harry Bertoia, KnollLocated in San Francisco, CAOffered here are four Harry Bertoia designed child chair for Knoll. First designed in 1950. All are white.Category
Vintage 1950s American Mid-Century Modern Chairs
MaterialsMetal
$700 Sale Price / set50% Off - Chairs by Harry Bertoia for Knoll, 1960s, Set of 8By Harry Bertoia, KnollLocated in Lasne, BESet of 8 white metal chairs. Seat height 44 cm. Wear and tear from time and age of the chairs.Category
Vintage 1960s Central American Mid-Century Modern Dining Room Chairs
MaterialsMetal
- BERTOIA Chairs, Model 420, Harry Bertoia for KnollBy Knoll, Harry BertoiaLocated in Neuss, NWBERTOIA chair, model 420, designed in the 1940s by Harry Bertoia for Knoll. Frame made of wire mesh with a new felt cover in grey. The offer includes 4 chair...Category
Vintage 1940s American Bauhaus Chairs
MaterialsMetal
- Bertoia Chair, Model 420, Harry Bertoia for KnollBy Knoll, Harry BertoiaLocated in Neuss, NWBertoia chair, model 420, designed in the 1940s by Harry Bertoia for Knoll. Frame made of wire mesh with a new seat cover in grey. Quality Features: ver...Category
Vintage 1940s American Chairs
MaterialsWire
- BERTOIA Diamond Chair, Model HB_10, Harry Bertoia for KnollBy Knoll, Harry BertoiaLocated in Neuss, NWBERTOIA diamond chair, model HB_10, designed in the 1940s by Harry Bertoia for Knoll. Frame made of wire mesh with a new felt cover in red. Quality Features: very good workmansh...Category
Vintage 1940s American Bauhaus Chairs
MaterialsMetal
- Pair of Large Diamond Chairs by Harry Bertoia for KnollBy Knoll, Harry BertoiaLocated in Dallas, TXFabulous, iconic pair of large "Diamond Chairs" by Harry Bertoia for Knoll. Black metal frames and yellow upholstery.Category
Vintage 1960s Mid-Century Modern Chairs
MaterialsSteel