Icon: Panton Chair

The Panton Chair is the first cantilevered chair made from a single piece of plastic. Sleek, sexy and a technical first, the Panton was the chair of the era. A glossy red Panton featured in Nova magazine’s 1970 shoot in which a model demonstrated “How to undress in front of your husband”.

Panton Classic Chair, 1968, by Verner Panton, for Vitra

Icon: Platner Lounge chair by Knoll

Designed by Warren Platner in 1966, this distinctive series of tables and seating, transformed steel wire into sculptural furniture.

Platner Collection, by Warren Platner, for Knoll

Icon: The Bulthaup B3 Kitchen

Light in Design, the B3 system by bulthaup is the measure of all kitchens; by focusing on ergonomics, task management and keeping it utilitarian, the visual aesthetics are not compromised here. The entire kitchen “floats” by using a supporting frame inside the wall that can bear up to one ton in weight per meter. This is ideal for architects and designers, providing them with an unprecedented level of freedom in design and the efficient use of space. The range of accessories and the way in which spices, tools and even cleaning supplies are tucked away compliment the design. You may never dine out again!

Bulthaup B3 Kitchen, by Herbert H. Schultes, for Bulthaup

Noguchi Prototype Prismatic Table sells for $290,500

An Important and Rare Prototype Prismatic Table for the Alcoa Forecast Program
The Aluminum Corporation of America (Alcoa) program emphasized the artistic and functional possibilities of aluminum. Select commissioned designs were featured in full-page advertisements shot by noted photographers in widely-read weekly magazines. It is for this program that Isamu Noguchi developed the iconic design of the Prismatic table.

Isamu Noguchi, who was the third artist featured in the Forecast program in early 1957, developed an abstract three-dimensional form. Noguchi’s Prismatic tables were conceived in multiple to form a “kaleidoscope” with variant colors with the intention of adaptability. The advertisement photographed by Irving Penn used the table as a casual, yet romantic platform for dinner at home.

Prototype Prismatic Table, Sold at Auction for $290,500, by Isamu Noguchi, at Sotheby’s

Icon: Taccia Lamp by Achille Castiglioni

The Taccia lamp is a remarkable piece of design from 1962 – and it’s still in production today.
It was designed, by the Castiglioni brothers for Flos in 1962 as a functionable/adjustable table lamp for the modern home. The base is a fluted column of aluminium, topped with a clear glass shade with an aluminium reflector, which can be rotated to direct the light.
Achille Castiglioni said of Taccia in a 1970 interview: “We consider it the Mercedes of lamps, a symbol of success: perhaps because it looks like the shaft of a classical column. We certainly weren’t thinking of prestige when we designed it. We just wanted a surface that would stay cool.”

Taccia, $2,300.00 by Achille Castiglioni, for Flos

$361,000 Buys You a Bauhaus Teapot

Under the direction of Walter Gropius, the Bauhaus sought a union of art and technology, with an emphasis on developing prototypes for industrial production. Marianne Brandt, the sole woman enrolled in the school’s metal workshop, designed this silver teapot while still a student. By interrelating a number of pure geometric forms, including the hemisphere, circle, and cylinder, Brandt’s design explores their formal relationship in space. Like other functional Bauhaus items, the teapot was designed to work well in addition to looking good—it is well balanced and easy to pour.

Tea infuser and strainer ca. 1924, Silver and Ebony; H. 7.3 cm, by Marianne Brandt, Sold at Auction $361,000, Sotheby’s

Icon: Olivetti Valentine Typewriter

“Sottsass designed the Valentine typewriter (with Perry A. King) for Olivetti in 1969 to be an “anti-machine machine,” for use “anyplace but an office. Undoubtedly one of the great design classics, the Valentine expresses the mood of its time: goodbye to the bulky cast-iron housings of old typewriters, hello to the new mobility of a light, modern, plastic casing made from ABS.

Olivetti Valentine Typewriter (c.1969), by Ettore Sottsass, for Olivetti

via: mytypewriter.com

Pretzel Chair is back from Vitra.

In honor of George Nelson’s 100th birthday, Vitra has released a special re-edition (limited to 1,000) of Nelson’s Pretzel Chair he designed in 1952.

Pretzel Chair, by George Nelson, manufatured by Vitra, via: Design Related

Icon: Braun Calculator

Solar ETS-77, design by Dieter Rams, Dietrich Lubs, for Braun

Icon: Kikkoman Soy Sauce Package

Often overlooked and a common sight in every sushi bar and maybe even lurking in the back of your refrigerator, this package design is now included in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York (MoMA). The dispenser is equipped with the essential functions as a soy sauce dispenser such as easy to pour (on two sides!) and a non-drip spout. The company has shipped to date over 250-million units.
Designed in 1961 by Kenji Ekuan. (Japanese, born 1929) and GK Design Group. Kikkoman Soy Sauce Dispenser. Glass and polystyrene plastic, Manufactured by Kikkoman Corporation, Japan.

Kikkoman Soy Sauce Dispenser, by Kenji Ekuan, for GK Design Group