Treasures! - Swedish Stuff

As a follow up to my last post:

I went to a thrift store close to the movie theater I was at recently. Of course I did. I can’t pass up the opportunity to treasure hunt. I said goodbye to my friends and high-tailed it over there.

I dig around for a while, and am honestly a little disappointed with the stock. Then I head to this sort of added-on room where they typically only have clothes, just to look at anything non-clothing they may have put in there, and see a cute little table and chair in the corner. The table…eh. The chair…oh yeah. Great form, obviously well made and in fantastic condition. I flip it over, see the original metal tag and MADE IN SWEDEN. No question, I pick it up, pay and leave.

Once I had it home, I had to start finding out it’s story. I hadn’t heard of the name on the tag, ”Akerblom”.

Enter, the trusty laptop.

• Looked up the name/word: Dead Hockey player
• Tried harder: Doctor
• Intrigued, I look further: Doctor Bengst Åkerblom studied human posture and the sitting position. DING DING DING!!!!
• Look up Åkerblom & chair: find a slim selection of instances. A museum and 2 hits that are chairs for sale. Range in price from $75 – 4,000 Euros.
• Try to find out more about Doctor Bengst Åkerblom: Strolled around the net and ended up at http://www.designaddict.com/  There was a thread on Åkerblom and his chairs. To quote user “Koen” on Design Addict, “You will not find Bengt Åkerblom in most publications on Scandinavian design, because he is not a designer.” Koen goes on to say, “He is...or was a researcher. His particular interest was the seated position. He is generally credited for having invented the lumbar support in chairs, which is most often referred to as the Åkerblom curve.” Dr. Åkerblom wrote a pivotal (for the subject) book named Standing and Sitting Posture (1948). So, who designed and built this chair? At this point I had no idea. Personally, I love a mystery.
• Continue to search: Searching random combinations of keywords, letting www.Google.com translate Swedish websites, image searches….then…I wake up and smell the coffee (as it were)
• I reread the Design Addict thread: I actually read the entire thread, and realize that other people have already asked the questions I’m trying to find answers to. Yay for paying attention (eventually)!

So, the designer of the chair was Gunnar Eklöf (1909-1963). He worked with Åkerblom, to apply his research on seated posture, introducing a new design element, e.g. the Åkerblom (or Lumbar) support curve, to chair designs. This chair, as well as others in various iterations, were produced in limited quantities (each is handmade) by NK-bo (translates NK-Habitat)in the latter part of the 1940’s and possibly early 1950’s. Given the scarcity of the chairs in the marketplace, obviously not many were produced.

It’s important to note that Gunnar Eklöf is actually a well known and respected Swedish furniture and interiors designer.

To sum all this up, I found a great chair made from solid Swedish Walnut, for a ridiculously low price. I did some research and found out about it, learning loads of stuff on the way. I love the look of the chair, and with just a tiny bit of cleaning up and care, it will outlast me. …and it’ll look good doing it.

Design Tangent #1 - Learning

One of the things I find most wonderful and inspiring about design, is how much you learn.

Imagine discovering something really cool at an estate sale. This thing completely sings for you. You know it's special, but you don't know anything about it. So, you research it, and along the way you discover that the history of this object, is just a piece of an amazing puzzle. Stories, images, names and places that transport that object to a time and place where it was new, vital and poignant.

While finding out all you can about what makes this one thing special, you discover an entire world.

Every designer of the past shaped the visual world in some way. As the designers of today, it is our responsibility to recognize and respect the work of our predecessors. Luckily, it's also our joy, because the work of at least one (or many) of these designers probably inspired us to chase our dreams.

Treasures! - More Danish Stuff

Super excited about this great find on Etsy. It may not look like much to most people, but this Dansk rosewood salad or bread server (on the left) designed by Jens Quistgaard, is extremely rare. Anything in rosewood by Dansk is rare. The server came with the teak spoon and fork pictured too, and they’re cute!

You may wonder why the label says JHQ-Malaysia.... Well, JHQ stands for Jens Harald Quistgaard, and many Dansk Pieces for the American market were manufactured in Asia; mainly Thailand and Malaysia.

The fact that the server is made from rosewood, is probably why it’s in such great condition still. Brazilian Rosewood is a beautiful, hard and durable wood, with dramatic grain and a brilliant, saturated color. You are able to polish Brazilian Rosewood to a much glossier surface due to its being less porous.

Brazilian Rosewood was very popular for furniture and household items in the 60’s, but since then has become increasingly rare due to there being a lot of confusing and complicated rules on its import and endangered species status. Indian Rosewood, which is not considered endangered, is more often used now.

You may remember another recent post was also about Dansk and Jens Quistgaard. It’s becoming a bit of an obsession for me, so you’ll hopefully be seeing pieces in this vein often!

Inspiration #4: Very Cool Stuff!

Went to the Renegade Craft Fair with a friend on Saturday, expecting to be entertained and intrigued by interesting crafts, but ended up being pleasantly inspired by one ceramics artist with a very tongue-in-cheek viewpoint. He bridges art and the functional, in a whimsical way that I find to be tons of fun.

Brian Connolly is the artist, and this is his site: http://www.thingsoutofstuff.com/gallery/

The pic above is of a set of salt and pepper shakers....too cute! There's a lot more, so check it out!!!

Treasures! - Danish Stuff

So excited to find this salt and pepper shaker and mill! It's a really nice example of one of the pepper mills designed by the celebrated danish modern designer, Jens Quistgaard. Among the many, many beautiful things designed by Quistgaard, were the extensive line of wood (primarily teak) kitchen items designed for Dansk (a company he helped create). Quistgaard designed an estimated 70 mills for Dansk.

This is a great little book about them.
http://www.danishpepper.com/dansk_pepper_book.html

Until very recently, I also had the mill on the far right of the book cover. It's gotten so hard to find these pieces, and the ones that come up are so expensive, that I bit the bullet and sold it on EBay. I'm kicking my self a little bit now....but there's always hope in the treasure hunt!

Project 2.5: Chair Revisited

Remember this? I said I had an idea in mind for it, and that idea was realized. The frame has been totally silver leafed, and the seat cushion recovered in a white fabric. I love the look, and it's a great arm chair companion to my other "side" dining chairs.

My other chairs are white shell chairs with the chromed stainless eiffel base, so with this chair I wanted a silver body and white seat, to add a little contrast and fun.

You see? Metal leafing is fun and creates dramatic results!

Now, I just have to find another one...

Project #2 : Let's Metal Leaf Something!

Do you like stuff shiny, but not too shiny? Yes, please! Well alright then, let’s metal leaf something!

You’ve probably heard about something being gold or silver leafed. Frames, ceilings, even furniture is commonly metal leafed. Here are some images of metal leaf in action:

copper leaf

silver leaf

gold leaf

But, what is metal leaf, and how does it work?

Metal leaf, is an extremely thin piece of real metal. The metal can be a precious metal like silver or gold, or more common metals like copper, brass, or aluminum. There are even composites now, that are made up of various metals for different effects. The process of creating metal leaf is actually pretty cool. Traditionally, small pieces of metal were pounded by hand (with hammers obviously) until they got so thin, that a breeze could tear them apart. Some metal leaf is still made by hand, but most is manufactured in large presses now. It’s a lot faster, and a lot less labor intensive. Just FYI, the average thickness of gold leaf is about 3.5 millionths, or 0.0000035 inches thick.

I’m a fan of silver leaf, personally. I’ve silver leafed several picture frames, a bowl, and a large ornately carved wall mirror, and it's actually easier than it looks! What’s amazing about metal leafing something, is that you instantly make that thing look about 100-times more fancy and expensive.

So, how do you metal leaf? Well, I’m sure there are more technical instructions on the web somewhere, but here is my straightforward take on the process:

Tools/Materials you’ll need:

• Metal leaf
• Primer (acrylic paint, optional)
• Sizing (an adhesive that makes the surface sticky)
• Several brushes (1 for the sizing, and at least one soft bristle brush like a ladies powder brush, to apply the metal leaf and press it onto the surface)
• Soft cotton cloth or cheesecloth for softly burnishing
• A clear acrylic or polyurethane top coat to seal the finished product, and help protect it from oxidation and scratches.

Here are a couple of good websites for materials:

http://www.artsparx.com/store_gilding.asp

http://www.dickblick.com/categories/goldleaf/

http://search.utrechtart.com/index?N=1338&in_dim_search=1

Process:

1. Pick something to metal leaf. 
2. Make sure the surface you’ll be covering is clean and totally dry.
3. Working in manageable portions of the surface, apply the sizing and let set according to the instructions. It’ll usually take 20-60 minutes or so for it to dry to the correct tacky consistency
4. Ok, here’s the tricky part….Take the soft brush reserved for leaf application and brush it gently up and down your inner arm a few times. The brush will pick up microscopic oils from your skin.
5. Lift the paper sheet of the metal leaf book, and gently poke the leaf with the brush.  The leaf should lift with the brush.
6. If the brush trick doesn’t work, you can try picking up the metal leaf sheet with very clean, very dry hands.
7. Maneuver the metal leaf over the prepared surface, trying to cover the most  amount of surface at one time. Lower it slowly until the leaf is making contact with the surface.
8. Hopefully, you've been able to avoid wrinkles, but it's not too big a deal if there are some. The leaf not adhered to the surface will just brush off once it's all dry.
9. Continue to cover the surface, working in sections of the surface if necessary, until the piece is completely covered.
10. Let it dry overnight.
11. After completely drying, take your cheesecloth or other soft cotton cloth, and gently wipe it across the leafed surface, ideally over a trash can, or in an area easily cleaned. All the non-adhered pieces of leaf will come right off!
12. When all the extra bits are off (use a soft brush for carved or recessed areas) you can polish the surface gently with the cloth, and achieve a nice dull shine
13. Cover the finished piece (at least the metal leafed potions with a clear acrylic or polyurethane for protection, and voila! You're done!!!

Don't be afraid to think “outside the box”, and consider how you can apply metal leaf in ways that are uncommon and special. Maybe create patterns, or images? Here are some examples on 8"x8" plywood, of different techniques you can use:

straightforward, full coverage on a flat surface

using tape to mask off areas; create a pattern

use wider tape and an Xacto; create more organic shapes

So basically, it's all possible. You can metal leaf just about anything. Wood, glass, stone, whatever you want. Give it a try!