Plywood Furniture in the Marcel Breuer Archive

Mr Breuer isn’t exactly a stranger to our archive, these modernist designers always seem to crop up again and again with their classic timeless designs, ones that I’m extremely envious of. Take for example these plywood furniture pieces by Marcel sourced from his ever growing digital archive, it’s a fantastic place to pick up inspiration and general tips and tricks in terms of drawing and idea generation. Very informative and great for all you students out there who’re interested in architecture and/or furniture design, even design in general to be honest.

What attracted me to these plywood pieces, some that are completely constructed of plywood and others part plywood, was the fact that all of their forms are very experimental for the period and really showcase some unique abilities of the material. Check out the nesting tables above for example, they’re basically seamless and have been produced out of one piece of wood, I find it pretty extraordinary how the legs bend down onto pin-type points. This creates a piece full of interest and wonder, how can such a table stand up and withhold objects you might say.

In fact I’ve seen many wood forms over my time researching, ones coming out of the Eames studio in particular, but these are definitely at the top of the list and would look great in any home or workspace. A talking point that’s for sure. Obviously these aren’t really pieces you’ll find knocking around on the side street and I’m sure they would cost an absolute fortune at auction so for now we’ll all have to admire these through the archive photography above and below. Even if you take some inspiration away from the shapes and structure, these might even be possible to replicate yourself one day, I just can’t believe I haven’t come across these before.

www.breuer.syr.edu

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