The Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce wouldn’t be able to attract an audience for a “Brooklyn Manufacturing Expo” outside of their own staff so every year they host the BKLYN DESIGNS exhibition. Walking around the exhibition though you are struck by how design, and by extension designers, drive manufacturing. With the collapse of manufacturing in the United States over the last few decades it’s hard to fathom just how many jobs we had in Brooklyn making things. All of the work was not only designed here in Brooklyn but as a matter pragmatism, most of it is made here.

Here are a few of my favorite things.

Tree table and stool by April Hanna

April Hannah gets the chutzpah award. She’s an artist who three months ago when she applied for a booth, saw a need, had an idea, and a couple of cardboard models. Twelve weeks later, her Tree Table Collection is debuting here. The collection, shown with a few of her artworks, as a sort of visual DNA, is smart, cohesive, well crafted (thanks in part to a brother who according to Hannah “can make anything”),and built with kids and the environment in mind.

Jeff Mayer’s bench and growing family

Jeff Mayer’s 718 Made in Brooklyn is “form follows environment”. His design and manufacturing is a direct outgrowth of his lifestyle and Brooklyn aesthetic. He’s a former professional bmx racer, a lifelong skateboarder, and denizen of the public transportation system. All of these things come through in the objects, clothing, and furniture he designs and manufactures.

Christina Fesmire’s Fugle Swing

Pratt Institute seeks to instill in all graduates aesthetic judgment, professional knowledge, collaborative skills, and technical expertise. Their booth there was evidence of a promise fulfilled. The quality of the designs and the execution did not suffer by comparison with their professional counterparts by any means. I was particularly taken by Tobin Spann’s spare, simple, beautifully executed Surface Series furniture. My other favorite work was Christina Fesmire’s Fugle Swing. Both of those students have bright futures ahead of them as long as we can get this economy moving again.

Sit and Read,

Invite Details:
To coincide with the launch of its Spring 2010 line, Unis is proud to offer an exclusive collection of furniture and housewares from Sit and Read. The collection includes a limited series of vintage chairs reupholstered in remnant fabric from the Unis Spring collection.

Please join us for cocktails and music at the Unis Flagship Store, at 226 Elizabeth Street in Manhattan, on Thursday, April 22, from 7 to 9 p.m. to preview the collection and help celebrate our collaboration!

Industrial Steel Table from Sit and Read: $850 ($950 w/ Umanoff stool)

Click to download pdf.

]]> http://www.brooklynmodern.com/italian-modern-concept-furniture-plans/feed/ 0 http://www.brooklynmodern.com/mit-opencourseware-free-furniture-design-class/ http://www.brooklynmodern.com/mit-opencourseware-free-furniture-design-class/#comments Mon, 21 Dec 2009 17:44:41 +0000 brooklynmodern http://www.brooklynmodern.com/?p=2658 MIT has some really interesting free classes at http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/web/home/home/index.htm. The furniture making class has technique videos, visual reference, and a reading list. The site offers courses ranging from sustainability to history, to robotics.

Some people just get lucky finding valuable stuff in the trash. I just took on this restoration job for a client who found the above chair on the sidewalk in Park Slope. Other than the split in the seat, the chair is in perfect condition and is made from high quality solid wood. A seal on the inside leg says Johnson Chair Company. A few antique websites are selling Johnson Chairs for $300 and up. Below is a picture of the split. Clamps and glue will do the trick. After sanding off the old finish, Danish oil and lacquer will bring it back to life.

This chair’s lines are evocative of 1960’s design.
From its weight and joinery, you can tell it’s a good piece of furniture.

A postcard of the the Johnson Chair factory in Chicago.
In 1899, Johnson Chair Company made chairs for the US House and Senate.

]]> http://www.brooklynmodern.com/restoration-midcentury-chair-park-slope-trash/feed/ 0 http://www.brooklynmodern.com/eero-saarinen-museum-city-ny-shaping-future/ http://www.brooklynmodern.com/eero-saarinen-museum-city-ny-shaping-future/#comments Fri, 06 Nov 2009 00:42:41 +0000 brooklynmodern http://www.brooklynmodern.com/?p=2588

TWA Terminal, New York International (now John F. Kennedy International) Airport, New York, circa 1962. Photographer Balthazar Korab. (c) Balthazar Korab Ltd.

Eero Saarinen: Shaping the Future
Nov 10 through Jan 31
Museum of the City of New York
1220 Fifth Avenue at 103rd St.
212.534.1672

Presented at the Museum from November 10, 2009 through January 31, 2010, Eero Saarinen: Shaping the Future is the first retrospective of this architect’s career, which was one of the most prolific, unorthodox, and controversial in the history of 20th-century architecture. From the TWA Terminal at JFK Airport and the St. Louis Gateway Arch to the Pedestal Chair for Knoll Associates, Saarinen (1910-1961) created some of the most potent expressions of American identity after World War II. Saarinen’s clients constituted a who’s who of the era’s most prominent industries and institutions. For them he designed buildings that advanced the expansion of higher education to the promotion of automobile culture and air travel, popular forms of entertainment like television, and the newest information technologies. Featuring sketches, working drawings, models, photographs, furnishings, films, and other ephemera, the exhibition examines the architect’s career from the 1930s through the early 1960s.

“The stack of dimes look”, as show in this video, is one of my goals:

Just came across a Brooklyn-based site called Sit and Read Furniture. All the pieces appear to be in good shape and are affordable. They also deliver.

Arthur Umanoff Bar Stools for Raymor
$250 for a pair, $450 for the set of 4

Mid Century American Hutch/Bookcase, $450 ON SALE! $275

Just came across the spectacular work of Robert Austin Gonzalez, a Brooklyn-based designer. He’s got a smart looking site that features several collections. His Grace series consists of oak and walnut turnings that form stools and legs for tables. See below.

The George collection, pictured below, is an homage to Nakashima and uses one one of my favorite materials, corian, to construct coffee and side tables.

Additionally, the Thoughts section of Gonzalez’s site is interesting. It’s a flash file, so I can’t post it here, but it explains his design philosophy. To reach the Gonzalez, click Robert Austin Gonzalez or call 718-596-7960 for an appointment at his DUMBO studio/showroom.

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