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sold / Scandinavian birch plywood chairs, 1960s

sold

Though clearly embodying the soft Scandinavian aesthetic, the exact details on the design for these dining chairs remain unknown. Their light yellowish colour indicates the use of beech or birch wood. Beech wood however usually shows a more dominant and wavy grain pattern with characteristic swirls. In this case the grains are quite uniform and straight, typical for birch wood. Birch trees grow a lot in Scandinavia, especially in Finland and Sweden.

The use of birch, and its moulding into rounded shapes, reminds of the work of the Finnish pioneer designer Alvar Aalto. As a reaction to the sober Bauhaus designs featuring cold tubular steel, in the early 1930s Aalto proposed a softer and warmer aesthetic. Inventing new methods for moulding plywood and bonding veneer, he created innovative fluid, curvy designs in merely natural materials. In the 1950s and 1960s this warmer, curvy language in furniture design was picked up by many post-war designers. These plywood chairs were probably designed in the 1960s by one of his followers.

 

 

 

 

measurements

d 43 x 2 45 x h 106 x sh 47 cm

condition

very good vintage condition, few traces of use

in stock

1

price

120 eur

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