Frank Gehry
Undoubtedly one of the world’s foremost architects FRANK GEHRY has an eccentric artistically influenced style which has contributed to the development of Deconstructivism and has produced such iconic and sensational buildings such as the Vitra Museum in Weil am Rhein, the Guggenhem in Bilbao, the Walt Disney Concert Hall in LA and Fred & Ginger in Prague. He has also earned a reputation as one of the most original minds in furniture design.
Born in Toronto in 1929 he studied architecture at the University of California before embarking on an urban planning degree at Harvard University. From 1957 he worked in various architectural practices in Los Angeles and Paris before setting up his own practice in L.A in 1957.
1972 saw the launch of his furniture designs made from cardboards and it was evident from his work that he perceives both buildings and furniture/accessories as sculptures. The Easy Edges chair designs consist of glued layers of laminated corrugated cardboard – a process he patented himself which solved the problem of instability that plagued earlier versions of cardboard. GEHRY also perfected the manufacturing process which enabled him to sell the chairs at affordable prices. Seventeen different models were made in total, including the undulating Wiggle chair and Vitra’s Little Beaver chair (1987) – an iconic design reminiscent of a classically shaped upholstered chair.
In the 1990’s GEHRY produced the Cross Check series – tables and chairs made from interwoven strips of maple for Knoll and the beautiful Pito kettle for Alessi (1992).
