New
- 5 min read
- 21.03.2025
- by Bettina Krause
Transcendent Elegance – Design Classics
Issue
02/25
Some pieces of furniture become instant icons, ageless, modern and highly relevant even decades after they were designed. Here are some of the most sought-after collector’s items.
Table of Content
Cini Boeri – Ghost Chair
Ludwig Mies van der Rohe – Barcelona-Couch
Fritz Haller – USM-Modulmöbel
Verner Panton – Flowerpot
Isamu Noguchi – Coffee Table
Gaetano Pesce – La Mamma
Ray und Charles Eames – La Chaise
Greta Grossman – Gräshoppa
Le Corbusier – Chaise Longue
Salvador Dalí – Vis-à-Vis de Gala
Lina Bo Bardi – Bowl Chair
Ron Arad – Book-Worm
Cini Boeri – Ghost Chair
Cini Boeri’s design career kicked off under the tutelage of Italian design star Gio Ponti. The designer and architect, who died in 2020 at the age of 96 in her home city of Milan, founded her own studio in 1963. Her work paired functionality with aesthetics and ranged from exhibition design to furniture and Prada handbags. Her Ghost Chair, made of 12-millimeter-thick curved glass was a design for the label Fiam. This transparent chair, which weighs 36 kilograms, is a masterful example of simplicity with purpose. Boeri was inspired by the Japanese art of paper folding called Kirigami, where intricate folds and cuts are used to make three-dimensional objects. The designer replaced paper with a sheet of glass that was cut, curved and molded to create a comfortable seat with a backrest and armrests. The iconic chair is on display at MoMA in New York and many other design museums around the world.
Ludwig Mies van der Rohe – Barcelona-Couch
Architecture fans around the world are familiar with the Farnsworth House in Illinois, the New National Gallery in Berlin and the Barcelona Pavilion. These iconic buildings were all designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, who grew up in the German city of Aachen and moved to the United States in 1938. His trademark modernist steel structures with huge expanses of glass were architectural innovations that swept aside clutter and replaced it with clarity, transparency and openplan layouts. As one of the most important architects of the 20th century, Mies headed the Bauhaus in Dessau. His creations for the groundbreaking art school are now instantly recognizable design classics. The Barcelona couch or daybed, made of tubular steel and leather, was a collaboration with designer Lilly Reich for the pavilion at the 1929 World’s Fair. Its aim was to show how harmonious linear architecture could be. The Barcelona collection, with its characteristic minimalist design, also includes an eponymous chair and stool.
Fritz Haller – USM-Modulmöbel
Picture the interior of a law firm, a doctor’s office or an editorial meeting room – and you’re probably imagining the iconic and ubiquitous USM furniture, designed by Fritz Haller and Paul Schärer in 1963. The series has been a perennial favorite for decades thanks to its timelessness, quality and flexibility. The modular elements can be combined to form cabinets, bedside tables or shelves, some even with integrated plant holders. The design has barely changed since it was presented in the 1960s. The simple, functional form and the fourteen USM colors, which can all be combined, ensure that the shelves and cabinets are both sustainable and truly timeless. In the summer of 2024, USM added a new, fifteenth color to the palette: olive green. The simplicity of the design always chimes with the spirit of the times, and it can be seen at international art fairs such as Art Basel. USM furniture is also used by designers such as Alexandra Golovanoff and William Fan to present their latest collections.
Verner Panton – Flowerpot
Verner Panton’s Flowerpot table lamp, created by the Danish architect and designer in 1968, is hipper than ever. Three hemispheres – two in the shade, one in the base of the lamp – come together to form the ideal proportions. This eye-catching lamp, available in a range of rich colors, sets accents in hotel rooms, restaurants and living spaces. Panton began his career as an assistant to Denmark’s star architect Arne Jacobsen, later designing for brands such as Fritz Hansen, Thonet and Vitra. Unlike many of his colleagues, Panton found himself drawn to artificial materials and geometric shapes, acquiring a profound knowledge about the psychology of colors along the way. Panton also created entire interiors, including the canteen in the former headquarters of the magazine Der Spiegel in Hamburg, Germany; the canteen is now on display a short walk away at the Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe. Panton’s most outstanding designs include his S-shaped Panton Chair, a piece of furniture that shapes the face of contemporary interiors to this day.
Isamu Noguchi – Coffee Table
Alongside his Akari lamp made of Japanese paper, the most famous and widely recognized design by the JapaneseAmerican artist and designer Isamu Noguchi is his sculptural Coffee Table. It consists of a heavy glass top supported by two identical wooden legs arranged at right angles to one another. Noguchi designed this piece of furniture in 1944 and considered it his best work. The table conveys lightness in its transparency and radiates a sense of calm despite its unconventional curved shape. Noguchi was a designer of many talents, creating sculptures, gardens, furniture, ceramics and stage sets. His favored materials were stainless steel, marble, cast iron, wood, bronze, basalt, granite and water. There is a profound poetry in his works; the designer explored the question of timeless form and coined the phrase “There is no such thing as time.” He did not leave it to posterity to preserve his artistic legacy. In 1985, three years before his death, he created a monument to himself in Queens in New York: The Noguchi Museum.
Gaetano Pesce – La Mamma
Gaetano Pesce’s Up series, designed in 1969, comprised seven armchairs and seat cushions that are reminiscent of votive statues of prehistoric fertility goddesses. This homage to the female body also combined functionality and aesthetics. In La Mamma, also known as Big Mama, a ball-shaped stool is connected to the curvy armchair via a symbolic umbilical cord. In 2019, the multifaceted Italian architect and designer, who lived in New York for decades, placed an oversized version of his famous design in front of Milan Cathedral, pierced by numerous arrows. Pesce’s intention was to make a statement against the patriarchy and female oppression. Back in the 1960s, the production process and use of vacuum-compressed polyurethane foam was revolutionary. When the chair was released from the packaging, it expanded and took on its bulbous shape. In 2000, B&B Italia reissued the cult armchair but used solid polyurethane, leaving the magical expansion process to the imagination of present-day purchasers.
Ray und Charles Eames – La Chaise
They are probably the most famous couple in design history: Ray and Charles Eames. An artist by training, Ray had a keen sense of harmony and color as well as an eye for detail and playful elements. Her skills ideally complemented the talents of Charles, who had studied architecture. In their furniture designs, the pair focused on the functionality of their objects. Their body of work, characterized by simplicity, organic shapes and technical innovations, evolved over 40 years until Charles Eames’ death. Alongside the instantly recognizable Lounge Chair, La Chaise is one of the couple’s most important works. This design was created in 1948 for a competition held by the Museum of Modern Art in New York. The asymmetrically shaped chair with its curved seat and frame consisting of five steel rods anchored in a wooden base has a soft, almost weightless appearance. The two-seater was inspired by Gaston Lachaise’s 1927 sculpture, Floating Figure.
Greta Grossman – Gräshoppa
In 1947, Greta Grossman, who was born in Helsingborg in 1906, created her Gräshoppa lamp, which went on to become an icon of Scandinavian design. The Swedish designer also found inspiration in nature for her well-known Cobra lamp; she often stylized, abstracted, reduced and translated natural forms into furniture. Gräshoppa stands on slender, straight legs. Using bold, simple strokes, Grossman’s lamp expresses a certain stubbornness and feels almost alive, and the slightly angled steel tube to which the lampshade is attached is reminiscent of the characteristic silhouette of a grasshopper. The lamp conveys classic elegance and lightness and achieves what many designers strive for: a timeless form that transcends trends and fashions, and appears fresh at all times. With the outbreak of World War II, Grossman moved to California, where she worked as a designer and architect. She is one of the few female designers of her generation to receive the recognition she deserved during her lifetime.
Le Corbusier – Chaise Longue
With 17 of his buildings declared UNESCO World Heritage Sites, Charles-Édouard Jeanneret-Gris, better known as Le Corbusier, was one of the titans of 20th century architecture. The Swiss-born architect had a very clear vision of pure functionality and practicality, which he applied to urban planning and design; he dreamed of clear, straight lines without embellishment. The term “living machine” is attributed to him and denotes a building concept based on efficiency and economy that was intended to provide comfortable living spaces for as many people as possible. The visionary artist also designed furniture. In 1928, together with Pierre Jeanneret and Charlotte Perriand, he developed the famous chaise longue based on detailed analyses of proportions and posture. The furniture was intended to offer maximum comfort and relaxation while maintaining a balance of geometric purity and ergonomics. The reclining mattress, upholstered in leather, fur or fabric, rests on a steel frame. Today, the Milan furniture brand Cassina owns the rights to the Chaise Longue, one of the most outstanding icons in the history of design.
Salvador Dalí – Vis-à-Vis de Gala
Salvador Dalí is mainly known as a painter, and his work “The Persistence of Memory,” which depicts melting clocks in a bleak landscape, is one of the most evocative examples of Surrealist art. The eccentric Spanish artist also had a prodigious talent for design, as is evidenced in his “lippy” sofa, called Dalilips, a design for the theater museum in Figueras. The topic of lips, and more specifically kissing, pops up again in his kissing sofa Vis-à-Vis de Gala which showcases his sense of humor and eccentricity. The wooden sofa frame is upholstered with black polyester satin. Ornaments on the backs depict a stylized arm which almost seems to embrace the person seated here. On one side, the arm with a jeweled bracelet appears feminine, while the other, wearing a wristwatch, is more masculine. The quirky sofa is made by BD Barcelona and could be yours for a medium five-figure sum.
Lina Bo Bardi – Bowl Chair
A holistic thinker and one of the first women to successfully assert and make a name for herself in a male-dominated profession, Lina Bo Bardi also designed the interiors for the houses she created. In 1951, the Brazilian architect and designer with Italian roots designed her legendary Bowl Chair as an expression of perfect proportions. A semi-circular, leather-covered bowl rests on a metal frame, making it flexible and adaptable to individual needs. In Bo Bardi’s time, it was revolutionary not to connect the seat and the frame. It was an approach that illustrated her view of the world and conviction that each person should live out their individual potential. Simple, reduced and precise in its design, the Bowl Chair – now a sought-after classic – was originally intended as an affordable piece of furniture. Today, the chair, which is produced in a range of colors, will set you back several thousand euros.
Ron Arad – Book-Worm
No big fan of right angles, the British designer and architect Ron Arad, who was born in 1951 in Tel Aviv, liked to create flexible items that could be adapted to the individual space. Like the Bookworm shelf, designed in 1994: While most bookcases are strictly angular, this version is spiral. The playful Bookworm, made of flexible plastic and capable of supporting 15 kilos of prime reading matter, is now considered a modern classic that is both a sculptural work of art and a design object. One of Arad’s trademarks is his willingness to experiment with shapes and materials, and to subvert the familiar. He has an easy gift for crossing boundaries between art and design. The architect, who also trained as an artist, designed the Bauhaus Museum in Tel Aviv and the Design Museum Holon, also in Israel.
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