Mid-Century Modern Furniture: Shop Drawings & Techniques for Making 29 Projects

178 Pages·2015·7.085 MB·English

by  Michael Crow

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Shop Drawings
& Techniques for
Making 29 Projects
MICHAEL CROW
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Shop Drawings & Techniques for
Making 29 Projects
MICHAEL CROW
POPULARWOODWORKING BOOKS
CINCINNATI, OHIO
popularwoodworking.com
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M O D E R N
F U R N I T U R E
Shop Drawings
& Techniques for
Making 29 Projects
MICHAEL CROW

Contents
1
INTRODUCTION
History 6
Mid-Century Style 9
Designers & Manufacturers 12
Construction & Finishing Techniques 18
About the Drawings 19
2
TOOLS & TECHNIQUES
Tools 21
Materials 22
Pattern Routing 23
Shaping Parts 23
Working with Sheet Goods 23
Joinery 24
Assembly 32
Drawer Construction 32
Finishing 33
3
STEP-BY-STEP PROJECTS
Variation on a Finn Juhl Cof ee Table 35
Turning Mogensen on His Side 40
4
ENTRYWAY
Hall Tree 48
Console Table 51
Platform Bench 55
Mirror 59
Chaise Longue 62
5
LIVING ROOM
Nesting Tables 66
Cof ee Table 70
Side Table 74
Cube Table 78
Armchair 82
Ottoman 86
Sofa 90
Room Divider 94
Console Bookcase 98
6
DINING ROOM
Dining Table 102
Buf et 107
Dining Chair 111
Sideboard 117
Liquor Cabinet 122
7
STUDY
Sewing Table 126
Credenza 130
Desk Organizer 134
Partners Writing Table 138
Bookcase 145
Wishbone Desk 149
8
BEDROOM
Dresser 154
Nightstand 159
Slatted Bench 164
Bed 168
9
AFTERWORD
Further Reading 172
CHAPTER ONE
Introduction
I
t hink I i rst encountered Mid-Century Mod-
ern furniture in the cheap motels that lined
I-5 in the early 1980s. Family road trips
took us from Portland south to San Diego, and
we would stop at a “Vacancy” sign when my
mother grew too tired to drive farther in the
day. In my memory, these nondescript rooms
blur into a single image: double beds with –
if we were lucky – Magic Fingers electronic
massage and l anked by side tables attached to
the headboards. It’s through these headboards-
cum-bedside tables – pieces i rst conceived and
designed for compact European bedrooms then
i ltered through the worst tendencies of mass
production and thoughtless design – that I was
exposed to the style. To be fair, no furniture
style should be judged by hotel versions of it,
nor by its appearance in re-runs of “h e Brady
Bunch.” And yet that’s the impression I had
– chipped plastic veneer and battered particle
board. It’s a reasonable impression based on the
worst examples of the period’s dying gasps, but
it ignores the variety and grace the style can
exhibit, from the freeform sculpture of Isamu
Noguchi’s work to the elegant curves of Hans
Wegner’s Shaker-inspired designs.
HISTORY
h e design movement that went out with a
whimper in that bad hotel furniture has its
roots in the early 20th century (see timeline
below). Modernism, in its myriad expressions
This modest summer cottage by Le Corbusier shows (De Stijl, Functionalism, Bauhaus, etc.) can be
the designer's interest in spare design. Minimalism loosely dei ned as rejecting historical forms and
was a common thread running through different creating new ones based on rational analysis
expressions of Modernism. of need. Stylistically, Modernism is marked by
a lack of ornament, open interior spaces and
experimentation with new materials.
Underpinning this aes-
thetic expression
Weiner Werkstätte
Vienna Secession (1897 - 1905)
Art Nouveau (1890 - 1910)
Arts & Crafts (1880 - 1917)
William Morris & Co. (1861 - 1939)
1860 1870 1880 1890 1900 1910
6 INTRODUCTION
were more profound philosophical questions der Rohe eschewed ornamentation, favoring
around reconciling traditional craftsmanship simple geometric shapes and functionality.
and industrial production, and a desire to It also embraced asymmetry and regularity
improve society through good design. Mod- instead of symmetry. As with other Modern-
ernism shares this social impulse and concern isms, the Bauhaus sought to pair good design
of handcraft versus industry with the Arts & with industrial production, but they took the
Crafts movement – indeed, a line of inl uence approach a step further, taking the machine
runs from Arts & Crafts through the Vienna as a metaphor for broader aesthetic expression,
Secession, Wiener Werkstätte and Deutscher a tendency i nding its logical outcome in Le
Werkbund to the Bauhaus – but where the Corbusier’s dictum “A house is a machine for
Arts & Crafts movement looked to the past for living in.”
inspiration and answers, Modernism deliber-
ately looked to the future.
One of the largest inl uences on Modern- MID-CENTURY MODERN (1947 - 1969)
ism was the Bauhaus. Founded by the architect
Eames’s lounge and ottoman (1956)
Walter Gropius in 1919, it was a school of i ne
G-Plan introduced (1953)
and applied arts with the goal, as he outlined
Prototypes for first Eichler Homes (1949)
in his Bauhaus Manifesto, of “embrac[ing]
architecture and sculpture and painting in Juhl’s “Chieftans Chair” (1949)
one unity” to essentially create a grand unii ed Wegner’s “The Chair” (1949)
theory of art. h e school’s preliminary course Noguchi’s coffee table for Herman Miller (1947)
integrated theory and practical application Knoll furniture becomes Knoll Associates (1946)
so that students learned the fundamentals of
George Nelson director of design for Herman Miller (1946 - 1972)
design while having a chance to apply those
principles across media. h e school style Nelson’s “Platform Bench” (1946)
that developed under Gropius, and
Knoll Planning Unit (1943 - 1971)
was rei ned by subsequent
directors Hannes Meyer Risom designs Knoll’s first modern chair (1941)
and Ludwig Mies van MoMA “Organic Design” exhibit (1940)
Knoll founded (1939)
Danish Modern (1930 - 1970)
Mies van der Rohe’s “Barcelona Chair” (1929)
Le Corbusier’s “Villa Savoye” (1928)
Annual Danish Cabinetmaker’s Exhibition (1927 - 1967)
Kaare Klint’s tenure at Royal Academy (1924 - 1954)
Herman Miller & D.J. DePree rechristen company “Herman Miller” (1923)
Bauhaus (1919 - 1933)
De Stijl (1917 - 1928)
(1903 - 1930)
1920 1930 1940 1950 1960 1970
MID-CENTURY MODERN FURNITURE 7
h e Bauhaus would have a profound workman’s tool does. One of the logical
inl uence on a wide range of subjects, from conclusions of this conception is that a
architecture to industrial design and even piece of furniture should have a simple
typography. When van der Rohe closed the and not too unusual form so that it can
school under pressure from the Nazi party in glide into any interior whatsoever with-
1933, it created a diaspora of former faculty out becoming conspicuous. h e highest
and students that spread the teaching meth- aim of the school is to create a ‘timeless’
ods and aesthetics of the Bauhaus around the article for everyday use.
world, notably to Israel, the United Kingdom
and the United States. h e spread of Bauhaus h e consequential Modernism was one that
ideals led to a re-christening of the style; it paired an informed use of the past with mini-
became simply “International Style,” taking malist design and industrial production.
the name of a 1932 book by Coinciding with Klint’s
Henry-Russell Hitchcock tenure at the Royal Academy
and Philip Johnson. was a demographic shift
While the Bauhaus in Denmark. Between the
embraced the machine and World Wars, much of the
cast aside tradition, another population moved from
kind of Modernism was the country to the cities.
developing in Denmark. Increased urbanization cre-
Danish Modernism shares ated a demand for housing,
with the International Style and that housing tended to
an interest in essentialism be smaller. h is size con-
and functionalism, but straint proved benei cial to
emerges from a strong craft design as furniture evolved
tradition. Consequently to meet the changing envi-
it is marked by the use of ronment, prompting design-
traditional materials (espe- ers to create more compact
cially wood and textiles), pieces and more multi-
nor does it reject completely Kaare Klint purpose pieces. h e results
historical forms. Rather its appealed not only to the
proponents took inspiration domestic market, but also to
from the past, rendering that inspiration to its an expanding global market. Danish furniture
most essential. h e spiritual father of Danish exports went from 3 million kroner in 1950 to
Modernism was the designer and professor 146 million kroner in 1960.
Kaare Klint. As director of the Royal Acad- h e U.S. was a major importer of that
emy’s Furniture School from 1924-1954, Klint furniture, but it was only one aspect of what
trained a generation of designers in a cur- would become Mid-Century Modern. While
riculum that sought to dei ne a rational basis Modernism had made some inroads in the U.S.
for furniture design grounded in functional before the late 1940s, a country devastated i rst
analysis and informed by a consideration of by the Great Depression and then caught up
historical forms. Klint especially admired in the Second World War, could spend little
English furniture of the 18th century, but money or attention on architecture or indus-
other designers found inspiration in Egyptian, trial goods. h at changed with the end of the
Chinese, Shaker, Greek and Spanish furniture war, when a conl uence of pent-up consumer
as well. As Esbørn Hiort described the Klint demand, increased prosperity and a newly idled
school’s philosophy in his 1956 “Modern Dan- industrial base created the perfect environment
ish Furniture:” for Modernism to l ourish. As early as 1929 the
Michigan-based manufacturer Herman Miller
h e Klint school regards a piece of began to transition from building reproduc-
furniture as an implement which should tions to a modern line. But the full success of
fuli l its purpose in the same way as a that move didn’t become apparent until after
8 INTRODUCTION
Swatches from a 1948 Herman
Miller catalog suggest the tex-
tures and colors popular during
the period.
the launch of their 1947 line, which included But its popularity carried the seeds of Mid-
designs by George Nelson, Isamu Noguchi, Century Modern’s demise. A glutted public
Paul László and Charles Eames. It didn’t take continued to be bombarded with new designs,
long for other makers to note Herman Miller’s many pale imitations or cheap knock-of s
success, and soon what was then called “Con- produced by companies eager to cash in on the
temporary” (and would later be known as Mid- craze. Stripped of its social and philosophical
Century Modern) was everywhere, moving underpinnings, Mid-Century Modern became
from exclusive shops to department stores, and just another style – one that was as subject to
becoming ubiquitous in print and on screen. the same whims of changing consumer taste as
Mid-Century Modern came a little later any other style. And people had had enough of
to England than it did the U.S. Reacting to Mid-Century style.
resource shortages during the war, the coun-
MID-CENTURY STYLE
try instituted the Furniture Utility Scheme in
1942, which dei ned what furniture could look While most of the buying public might have
like and who could buy it. h e 1951 Festival moved on to other fashions, many classic
of Britain included an exhibition on Modern Mid-Century designs never ceased production,
design that whetted people’s appetite for the their continued appeal suggesting something
new style. When the Utility Scheme ended in of the timeless design the Klint school sought.
1952, manufacturers were as eager to try new But what exactly is Mid-Century Modern
styles as people were to buy. Donald Gomme style? George Nelson, one of the style’s most
of the i rm E Gomme, conceived of a new prominent designers, identii ed three looks, or
modern line of furniture and a new way to sell categories, of Mid-Century style: the bio-
it. Before Gomme, the British typically bought morphic, the machine and the handcrafted.
their furniture in matched sets, often i nanc- Although these labels might not encompass
ing it. With G-Plan and its lines designed for all expressions of the style, they are still useful
the whole house, consumers could buy a single categories.
piece or many, knowing that designs would Biomorphic design – so called because it
stay available for years. G-Plan made Modern was said to connote images of life – is the most
furniture accessible to the middle class at a distinctive Mid-Century style. Marked by
reasonable price and took the style mainstream. asymmetry, smooth and curved surfaces, and
Propelled by a savvy marketing campaign, the the novel use of new materials, it seems espe-
new furniture proved immensely popular – cially of the era. Biomorphic shapes – amoebas,
between 1952 and 1956 E Gomme’s proi ts kidneys and boomerangs – stood in sharp
grew by 600 percent. contrast to the machine aesthetic espoused by
the Bauhaus, though they both shared a similar
MID-CENTURY MODERN FURNITURE 9