Bertoia Side Chairs with Seat Pads c.2014-Price per chair
View Similar Items
Bertoia Side Chairs with Seat Pads c.2014-Price per chair
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)
- Style:Mid-Century Modern (In the Style Of)
- Materials and Techniques:
- Period:
- Date of Manufacture:2014
- Condition:Wear consistent with age and use.
- Seller Location:San Francisco, CA
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU1280236182472
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 modernism. Among furniture aficionados he is known for 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, Bertoia 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. There, 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 Cranbrook, 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.
- Rare J.L. Moller Model #404 Dining/Desk Armchairs c.1974-Price is per pieceBy J.L. Møllers MøbelfabrikLocated in San Francisco, CAABOUT May sell separately. Price is per chair. A pair of rare J.L. Moller Model #404 dining/desk armchairs, designed in 1974 by Jorgen Henrik Moller for J.L. Moller Mobelfabrik of ...Category
Mid-20th Century Danish Mid-Century Modern Side Chairs
MaterialsRush, Teak
$1,250 Sale Price / item20% Off - Eames Soft Pad Lounge Chairs by Herman Miller in Ivory Leather-Price per chairBy Herman Miller, Charles and Ray EamesLocated in San Francisco, CAABOUT Price is per chair. Designed as part of the iconic Aluminum Group, the Eames Soft Pad Lounge Chair has a high back, a relaxed pitch, and comes with its own pillowy headrest. ...Category
21st Century and Contemporary American Mid-Century Modern Office Chairs ...
MaterialsMetal, Aluminum
- Reupholstered Mid-Century Rosewood Dining Chairs, C.1970Located in San Francisco, CAAbout For more shipping options, contact us S16 Home San Francisco. A set of four dining chairs with a Rosewood frame. Reupholstered in a contoured charcoal wool. Creator Arup St...Category
Mid-20th Century Danish Mid-Century Modern Dining Room Chairs
MaterialsWool, Rosewood, Teak
$2,595 Sale Price / set37% Off - Steel Canvas Basket Corp Baskets With Leather Trim-Price per pieceLocated in San Francisco, CAABOUT One available. Contact us for a more affordable shipping rate: S16 Home San Francisco. These baskets are the compact version of industrial carry baskets used on construction sites and factory floors. Each is made by hand in the US, with a rugged steel frame and northern hardwood runners for added stability. The canvas basket...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Modern Decorative Baskets
MaterialsSteel
- Set of 6 Mid-century J.L. Moller Model #75 Solid Teak Dining Chairs c.1960By J.L. Møllers Møbelfabrik, Neils O. MöllerLocated in San Francisco, CAABOUT Contact us for more affordable shipping quotes: S16 Home San Francisco. A set of solid Teak J.L. Moller Model #75 side chairs reupholstered with new black vinyl in keeping w...Category
Mid-20th Century Danish Mid-Century Modern Side Chairs
MaterialsPapercord, Teak
- E.W. Bach Tall Teak Dressers-Sculpted Handles c.1950-Price per pieceBy E.W. BachLocated in San Francisco, CAABOUT Price per piece. A pair of mid-century modern dressers designed and manufactured by E.W. Bach in Denmark, circa 1950s featuring six drawers with dovetailed joinery and carved...Category
Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Dressers
MaterialsTeak
$2,520 Sale Price39% Off
- 1970’s Wire Knoll Bertoia Side Chairs - a PairBy Harry Bertoia, KnollLocated in Charleston, SCThe white wire Bertoia side chair is one of the greatest classic mid-century modern chairs around. And this set of two has royal blue seat pads to boot! However, if you don’t like th...Category
Vintage 1970s American Mid-Century Modern Side Chairs
MaterialsMetal
- Knoll by Harry Bertoia Black & Green Bertoia Side Dining Chairs, Set of 2By Knoll, Harry BertoiaLocated in London, GBOriginally designed by Harry Bertoia in 1952 his namesake collection has remained in production with Knoll ever since, with the side chair becoming one of the most recognisable furni...Category
2010s Italian Side Chairs
MaterialsFabric
- 3 Mid-Century Modern Sculptural Wire Side Chairs by Harry Bertoia for Knoll IntBy Knoll, Harry BertoiaLocated in Port Jervis, NYTimeless and fabulous design by Harry Bertoia for Knoll International. Set of 3 classic beauties with full leather pads for seats and backs. All labeled and in very good condition wi...Category
Vintage 1980s American Mid-Century Modern Dining Room Chairs
MaterialsSteel
- Early Set of Four Harry Bertoia Molded Shell Side Chairs for Knoll, LabeledBy Harry Bertoia, KnollLocated in Chesterfield, NJSet of four molded shell side chairs designed by Harry Bertoia and manufactured by Knoll. Originally debuted in 1960, this very early set is from 1963 and...Category
Vintage 1960s American Mid-Century Modern Side Chairs
MaterialsMetal
$3,000 Sale Price / set33% Off - Child Chair by Harry Bertoia for KnollBy Harry Bertoia, KnollLocated in Oklahoma City, OKWonderful set of child sized side chairs designed by Harry Bertoia for Knoll. Set was painted light blue at one point and have a wonderful patina. Pictured with Herman Miller fiberglass armchair...Category
Vintage 1960s North American Mid-Century Modern Children's Furniture
MaterialsMetal
$800 / set - Pair of Midcentury White Knoll Bertoia Side Chairs, 1950sBy Harry BertoiaLocated in Almelo, NLThis pair of Bertoia side chair is composed of delicate steel rods that have been precisely interwoven and welded to create airy, sculptural seats. Despite their delicate filigreed a...Category
Vintage 1950s American Mid-Century Modern Side Chairs
MaterialsSteel