design history 2009: LULU : Designer Furniture

Robert Venturi

Queen Anne Chair prototype 661

Date of Design: 1984

Date of Manufacture: 1984-1988

Model Number: 661 prototype

Materials: Bent wood laminations / laminated veneer


	Birthplace: USA (1925)
	Knoll Products: Collection of chairs, sofa, high and low tables

"Less is bore." A maverick of 20th century modernism, Robert Venturi delights in design that is purely decorative. The collection of chairs, tables and sofa created for Knoll in the 1980s by Venturi and his wife, architect Denise Scott-Brown, broke down barriers between traditional and modern design. The couple established their Philadelphia-based firm, Venturi, Rauch and Scott-Brown, in 1964. They have designed numerous residential and commercial buildings around the world. Venturi studied architecture at Princeton University. The recipient of a Prix de Rome, he continued his education at the American Academy in Rome. Subsequently, he worked in the offices of Eero Saarinen and Louis Kahn. He has taught architecture at the University of Pennsylvania and a graduate seminar with Denise Scott-Brown and Stephen Izenour. Robert Venturi, is the author of Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture and Learning from Las Vegas.

Robert Venturi
Art Deco Chair 665
1984
Date of Manufacture: 1984-1988

Model Number: 665

Materials: Bent wood laminations, laminate or
wood veneer face, glides of fixed nylon

Dimensinos: W 23 1/2", D 23 7/8", H 31 3/4"

Venturi sought to explore American and European furniture history.
His series of nine chairs designed for Knoll International between 1974
and 1984 utilized clichéd simplifications of furniture forms.
He produced innumerable studies in the development of his line
of chairs, many early prototypes are in existence.

Caroline Casey

Caroline Casey Sydney, NSW

Caroline Casey (b.1964) is a designer best known for her restrained and sophisticated furniture. After studying textiles in Sydney and running her own fashion/textiles business, she moved to New York in 1990 to study interior design at Parsons School of Design. She returned to Sydney in 1995 to expand on the furniture range that she had begun to successfully develop in New York. Her work is represented in major museum collections in Australia and abroad.

Constantly challenging her practice, she takes it in new directions by researching innovative technologies, discovering unique sources of inspiration and being playful with her ideas. Her works are essentially sculptural, with each piece starting as an exploration into form and ending with a resolved functionality.

Casey’s furniture is produced in modest batches by small-scale workshops in Australia and Germany. These highly skilled fabricators bring considerable knowledge and experience to the production process, and are dedicated to quality craftsmanship.