Bastille Chair Designed By Piet Blom

Dave Richards

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Constructivist chair--an homage to De Stijl--by noted Dutch architect Piet Blom (1934-99). Made by Huizenga for the cafeteria of the Faculty Club (nicknamed The Bastille) at the University of Twente, a 1968 Blom project. Of an edition of 400 or so, fewer than 200 survived a renovation. Only a handful retain their original paint. You can buy an original one for $4250. I wonder how many you could make for that price.


This looks like a fun chair to build. Maybe a good use for that Festool domino you've got sitting in your shop. :D

It's nice to share these old pieces of furniture I find here. The members on several other woodworking forums I look at just don't seem to get it. If it isn't Arts and Crafts or Shaker they aren't interested. A pretty narrow view in my estimation.
 
Maybe a good use for that Festool domino you've got sitting in your shop

Looked at, haven't been able to justify it. Still cut everything pretty much by hand (although my J/P has a horizontal mortiser attachment I don't use it much because of the setup/teardown time if you're only cutting 4-5 its faster just to use a chisel and besides the practice is good :D)

It's nice to share these old pieces of furniture I find here. The members on several other woodworking forums I look at just don't seem to get it. If it isn't Arts and Crafts or Shaker they aren't interested. A pretty narrow view in my estimation.

And thanks for sharing them! A lot of times I don't like specific elements of a design or find some of the more artsy things impractical but they are always interesting as brain food.

Often I think its interesting to re-consider the pieces in different contexts, at least as a thought exercise. There are a few variations on this chair I think it would be interesting to look at if one had time. I like the back and frame work, the boxy front not as much :D
 
I think, a lot of times, it's a materials and construction issue.

I mean, as a woodworker, what practical interest do I have in these designs, other than gross form?
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All these chairs are beautiful, famous, acclaimed designs as pieces of Modern Art or Industrial Design. But there's no way I can reproduce any of them or anything like them without completely reworking my shop and skills.

As woodworkers, I think we can look backwards and admire the skill required to do intricate carving, cabriole legs, inlays, veneering, and all the things the old guys used to do. But we can't look forwards at a CNC-cut, bent, 27-ply custom laminated plywood chair and feel the same way.

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Sure, it's pretty cool, but it doesn't really have a bearing on my life or skills.

That being said, I always love me a good Sketchup and what's more Modern than something beautiful that only exists on a computer???

Thanks Dave!
 
theres a show in Manhattan NY at the Jacob javits this weekend, not open to the public, its all the new designs in furniture, I saw some pics in the local paper this morning, a show Id love to go too.
only problem is the show is only open to public next Tuesday, and that's a really bad day for me.(My wife is going in for some testing in hospital and I want to be with her)

saw a picture of something similar to that laminated plywood chair, I think the price was over 4000.00
 
Interesting design my first thoughts were not something i would share here. Then i got to think about it, and if those were in use at a bar by a lady with a cute pair of legs she would be able to hide them behind the two flat pieces. :rofl: Thats about all i can find great in them.

They very upright, heck even the Amish furniture store i visited a while back had high chairs for raised tables that had great curved backs. By curved i mean so you can tilt you spine from 90* rather than be sitting upright.

Definitely could not see myself buying these even if they were on sale at Ikea. lol Sorry Dave this one just does not do it for me i would expect more from highschool woodshop kids. And i sit at my desk on an non-padded solid wood chair. Comfy if the chair is reasonably designed. Perhaps he was on a jobsite when he came up with these.

Anyhow thanks for sharing them i like the variety of what you share gets us all thinking about design as a aspect to what makes good woodworking furniture in my opinion.
 
Of course I don't expect them to be everyone's cup of tea.

Even better when they aren't. If we only ever drank the tea we knew we liked we'd never find the other tea we never knew existed :D :thumb:

If I was re-imagining them I'd probably replace the fron panels with a single post (probably centered on the X of the underside members) which I think would resolve most of the things that I dislike about them. I'm mostly not sure about the balance issues of that, you could leave the long front parts on the X at the bottom and add feet under the ends of it I suppose. It does complicate the joinery sligthly on that part of the chair but I don't think unduly so.

Anyway - its always interesting food for thought.
 
Im glad there are people who will always make outrageous furniture designs and those that will just make things that suit them, never afraid of what others will think.
if its not shaker or green and green style, that's just nonsense.
Wed live in a pretty boring world if everyone just kept copying the same styles over and over and over.
Not knocking green and green, I think they are beautiful, but so are a lot of other styles.
 
Well... being an industrial designer myself, I can't but mention several things:

1) Not all designs that we see photographed or published in magazines are good designs despite of being eyecatching, original or even provocative.
2) Some designs of product are made with the only goal to draw attention and stir comments good or bad, that doesn't matter much. They are described as "image carriers".
3) When a design is disguised of a piece of furniture, I do not like it. I've seen impossible tables and chairs that one can't put anything on top or sit on them comfortably or even sit at all
4) We musn't forget that any (good) design is the best compromise the designer could reach given the initial briefing and priorities and that it must be produced/made either by hand or industrially.
5) Las but not least, I've seen 1st price designs that shouldn't have passed even the first selection, and that their posterior application or use has proved them to be a complete fiasco. How come many people could see it at first glance and the jury didn't? That's one of the reasons why I don't trust design contests.

A good exercise when we see a design we like and we are not able to make for lack of tools or skill, is adapt it to what we can do, but that must be done analizing what we like and dislike of it, or the result will be dissapointing.
 
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