Mary Touhey Art

Yesterday I helped my mom photograph her art for an upcoming show she is having. I am currently working on the mail-outs. Stay tuned and I’ll fill you in on the Wine and Cheese Opening Night. In the mean time take a look at some of her most recent pieces!

Iconic History Humpday!!!

The Adelta Ball and Bubble Chair...

The Ball Chair, or sometimes called the Globe Chair, was designed in 1966 by Eero Aarnio. It features a white fiberglass shell with a soft, upholstered inside. The ball of the chair has been mounted at one single point on a swiveling pedestal to allow people to turn away from the rest of the room and be completely isolated from sight and sound. In 1955 the Chair was presented at the International Furniture Fair in Cologne and was a sensation. This inspired a whole new line of fiberglass designs from Eero Aarnio. It also inspired another chair...

In 1968 the Ball Chair Inspired Aarnio to create the Bubble Chair! The concept of being engulfed by the chair is still represented but Aarnio had “wanted to have the light inside it and so I had the idea of a transparent ball where light comes from all directions.” He created his next masterpiece from acrylic. He had gotten the idea to use acrylic from bubble skylights. He had asked a manufacturer if the circumference could be pushed out further to look like a “soap bubble”. He then added a soft cushion to the interior and a metal ring along the opening. This chair is to be uniquely suspended to really appreciate the “masterpiece of reduction”. (Ludwig Mies van der Rohe).

These two chairs have one amazing feature in common; they both have fantastic acoustic qualities. The ball shape swallows sound; only noises created within the chair can be heard at high levels, while outside sound waves don’t enter. They have been used as special “quite rooms” for phone calling in noisy public spaces like EXPO 2000 in Hannover!

I would love to have one of these Bubble Chairs hanging in my space. I think that I would feel too claustrophobic in the Ball Chair. What are your thoughts?

Find a great reproduction here!

http://www.regencyshop.com/p80/Ball-Chair/product_info.html

History Humpday... The Womb Chair

The Womb Chair...

This is one of my favourites. Not only because it’s beautiful and fabulous but also because it is one of the most comfortable chairs that I have ever had the pleasure of sitting in. It was Designed by Eeron Saarinen for Knoll in 1948. The standard size chair is very large (larger than you would expect) but can be purchased in 2 smaller sizes as well. The full size, in my opinion, is the where the design intent really shines. Saarinen managed to make a large, sprawling chair feel cosy and intimate. If I had the space this item would surely be part of my own collection!

The construction is a fibreglass shell covered in upholstered foam. It also has separate cushions for the ottoman, seat and back.

It looks cozy and inviting no matter what upholstery is applied to it. This can be a statement piece or something that easily gets along with other pieces of furniture you may already have.

History Humpday!

The Eames Lounge Chair

The chair and Ottoman are designed by Charles and Ray Eames. They were released by the Herman Miller Furniture company in 1956. The lounge is constructed from moulded plywood and leather.

The original chair is made of 3 plywood shells. These shells were originally constructed from 5 layers of Brazilian Rosewood veneer.  In today’s construction however, the shells are made form 7 thin layers of wood veneer, bonded and then shaped by heat and pressure.  Ray had thought that the chair was “comfortable and un-designy” but Charles had envisioned it as “the warm, receptive look of a well-used first baseman’s mitt”.

Whatever it was that Charles and Ray Eames intended, this chair and Ottoman have been tagged as one of the great iconic chairs of its time and can be found in a permanent collection of New York’s Museum of Modern Art.

Mad Men

I have been ever so slightly obsessed with this show. I’ve now watched all 4 seasons on Netflix and can’t wait for more! The show is set in the early 1960’s. It focuses on a group of advertisers on Madison Ave, New York that gained the nickname “Mad Men”. The story reveals the characters’ struggles in both their professional and personal lives. Too much drinking, smoking and adultery is what really adds the juice to the plot line. I like how they also included real historical events within the plot including the death of Marilyn Monroe and the shooting of Kennedy. They got it so right; the characters, the fashion and of course the set design.

The Set Design was by Bob Shaw, Amy Wells and Christopher Brown. Apparently a lot of the items are actual vintage pieces from the time, some are replicas and some pieces are products still in production today.

Here are some photos of the design and fashion from the set...

Draper Kitchen (even the food on the shelves is period appropriate)

Draper House

Draper Kitchen

Draper Living Room

Don Draper's Desk

Set designers carefuly picking out details

Don Draper

Betty Draper's Fashion

Joan Harris