Modern Squash by Christoph Niemann (And The Originals On Which they Were Based)

Here's a little eye candy...er, vegetable, for you. I came across this fun image created by illustrator Christoph Niemann for the New York Times and wanted to share it with you, along with the originals that it represents.

The image features mid century modern furniture classics, architecture - even a famous architect in his iconic eyewear - by well known designers crafted from squash and gourds.

In case you are unfamiliar with the originals that inspired them, I have culled them for you here.

1. Hang-it-All by Charles and Ray Eames, 1953


2. PH 4/3 Lamp by Poul Hennigsen, 1966


3. TWA Terminal in New York by Eero Saarinen, 1962


4. Philip Johnson (1906-2005)

above portrait by Luca Vignelli

5. La Chaise by Charles and Ray Eames, 1948


6. The Egg Chair by Arne Jacobsen, 1958


7. The Swan Chair by Arne Jacobsen, 1958



Christoph is best known for his work for the New Yorker Magazine. You can see more of his wonderful work at his website here.

Fish For Font Lovers. Stylized Wooden Koi Hand-Printed With Type Characters.

House Industries is offering beautiful stylized wooden Koi hand-printed with air-dried inks in a variety of prints using their own type designs. Characters such as ampersands, letters and brackets are printed on the objets d'art in a mid-century modern style.





They are unable to guarantee the availability of specific dye and pattern combinations. Please email your preference and they will try to accommodate your request.

8 x 4 in, (203 x 102 mm)
1.375 in thick, (35 mm)
Hand printed with air-dried inks
$75 each
buy them here.

House Industries Designs Hand-Printed Eames Tables For Herman Miller Asia-Pacific

The very hip type foundry House Industries has teamed up with Herman Miller to produce a limited edition series of 80 Eames wire-base tables.



The Eames wire based low tables (LTR) include letters, numbers and ornaments from their Eames Century Modern font collection.



Each tabletop is hand-printed by House’s own David Dodde in their Grand Rapids, Michigan factory, returned to Herman Miller for assembly then packaged in a special House Industries-designed wooden crate.



Andy Cruz originally showed sketches of a printed LTR table to Yoko Sasaki, Marketing director of Herman Miller Japan, during his trip to Tokyo in 2010. Soon after House Industries got busy with the Eames Office and Herman Miller in Zeeland, Michigan to bring the sketches to life. As with most House Industries projects, they tried their best to make the packaging for this limited edition something you wouldn’t throw away once the table was removed. I believe they succeeded.


Photography by Carlos Alejandro

Forty tables will be available in Hong Kong at the Herman Miller Reach event on September 16, 2011 and 40 will be available at the House Industries exhibition at the Herman Miller Tokyo Showroom on October 27, 2011.

Reach Hong Kong
September 16, 2011
Hong Kong Design Institute
3 King Ling Road,
Tseung Kwan O,
N.T., Hong Kong
http://reach.hermanmillerasia.com/

House at Herman Miller Japan
Opening Reception: October 27, 2011
Herman Miller Japan Showroom
Marunouchi MY PLAZA
2-1-1, Marunouchi, Chiyoda-ku,
Tokyo 100-0005, Japan
http://www.hermanmiller.co.jp/

information courtesy of House Industries

The Walnut & Maple Wood Boxeo Desk by Cliff Young, LTD.

I'm just in love with this modern walnut and maple wood desk with polished stainless steel legs. The design, with it's floating top and drawers tucked beneath, remind me of the classic mid-century modern George Nelson floating top desks for Herman Miller, only in a more modern and streamlined version.





The 300-10PCK Boxeo Desk, Dimensions: 78"W x 30"D x 31"H

* Stained plain sliced walnut with satin finish. All maple drawer interiors. Polished stainless steel legs.
* Features: Four touch latch drawers.
* Fully customizable


Request price and availability here

About Cliff Young:

For over 40 years, Cliff Young Ltd. has brought to life an extraordinary furniture collection that tastefully combines modern day sophistication with the warm, inviting feel of old world craftsmanship. Designs inspired by our modern lifestyles, luxurious wood veneers, clean sumptuous lines, perfection of style and a cutting edge, incredible textures and finishes, an organic mix of materials. The underlying strength of a well-thought functionality, solid engineering, eco-friendly mindfulness.

ArchiTech's Future Perfect: Mid-Century Modern Design Drawings

above: Henry P. Glass, Wacker Plaza Lobby - View From Entrance
Pencil on tracing paper, 1955, 16 x 21 inches

ArchiTech is a historically comprehensive commercial gallery of architectural art, in Chicago's River North gallery district. Their recent show, Future Perfect: Mid-Century Modern Design Drawings opened January 9 and ends this weekend on May 30, 2009.



The majority of the works in the exhibition are those of late Chicagoan architect and designer, Henry P. Glass (for which the gallery also serves as the representative of the estate) but the show also includes a few works by Vincent Raney, Bertrand Goldberg and R.G. Martelet.

David Jameson, the gallery owner, describes the exhibit as follows:

Mid 20th Century Modernism's most flamboyant designers. Industrial and architectural drawings from post-war to post-moon landing.

Utopian visions were nothing new to America's architects and designers after World War II. However, triggered by an explosion of affordable real estate and hopeful consumerism, manufacturers of the post-war era followed an entirely different design approach. This new philosophy of sensuous shapes envisioned furniture, lamps and radios as almost living beings that could run out to the buyers' car.

Henry P. Glass was perfectly suited to this new visual language. Freed from his Nazi prison camp, he began his design career in America with drawings that practically walked off the paper and into production.

Television and tourism helped transform the new reality away from wartime into the future and that's where we wanted to live. Bertrand Goldberg created theaters, hospitals and apartment buildings that could have come from colonies on the Moon.

In the era when a man's vehicle could resemble his rocket ship to get there, Ron Martelet drew speedboats that could transform into their own transport trailers. His Jet-Skis of the 60s looked to be straight out of "Goldfinger."

What began as atomic nightmares transformed into space age dreams in "Techni"-colors that were no longer army drab but instead, pink, aqua and hues never before classified. Mid-Century Modernism was something completely different.

Here are some drawings from the gallery exhibit. Please click on the images to enlarge:


above: Henry P. Glass, Kling Studios Lobby
Pencil on tracing paper, 1946, 18 x 23 inches

above: Henry P. Glass, Kling Studios Director's Office
Pencil on tracing paper, 1946, 18 x 23 inches

above: Henry P. Glass, Hotel Flamboyant Typical Cottage,
Graphite on Paper, 1949, 21 x 42 inches

above: Henry P. Glass, Hotel Flamboyant
dimensions unknown

above: Henry P. Glass, Design for Hairpin Chair
Pastel and ink on toned paper, Circa 1940s, 9 1/2 x 15 inches

above: Henry P. Glass, DH1 Laminated Plywood Chair
Prismacolor on paper collage, 1966, 10 1/4 x 12 inches

above: 1958 Chair, Graphite on tracing paper, 1958
11 1/2 x 8 1/2 inches

above: Henry P. Glass, Night Table Lamp
Graphite on tracing paper, Circa 1949, 16 x 13 inches

above: Henry P. Glass, Desk Lamp
Graphite on tracing paper, Circa 1949, 16 x 13 inches

above: Henry P. Glass, Swingline Desk and Armchair
Pastel and colored pencil on tracing paper, 1949, 16 x 13 inches

above: Henry P. Glass, Eastern Knitters Sales Room
Watercolor and collage on toned paper with shaped mat, 1946, 20 1/2 x 30 inches

above: Vincent Raney, Detail of Theatre for Los Banos
Pencil on drafting linen, 1947, 15 x 16 inches

above: R.G. Martelet, Detail of Design B (Boat/Trailer Combination)
Prismacolor and chalk on toned paper, 1961, 16 x 30 inches

above: Bertrand Goldberg, Architect; Henry Gould, Delineator, San Diego Theater, La Jolla Marker on artist's board, 1969, 12 1/2 x 17 1/2 inches

click here to see more of David's notes on the Exhibition:


above: ArchiTech Gallery Owner David Jameson, photo by Jay King

ArchiTech Gallery
730 North Franklin Street
suite 200
Chicago, IL, USA
60654