• Journal of the Korea Furniture Society
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.1-14
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• 2013

Since the 1980s the development of American art furniture was embodied its concept by second-generation furniture artists affected and educated from the first generation that has implanted art furniture fundamental values. Besides, embracing inevitably needs of the new era going with the social change rather than dwell on the nature of mere handicraft era, it has evolved with economic revival in the United States, the attention and increased consumption of the public, and ongoing government-sponsored. And more recently, the American contemporary Art Furniture faces another change in the non-boundary phenomena between art and design. American art furniture since the 1980s are summarized as three major trends: Art furniture embellished with traditional hand-craft, Art furniture featured the individualistic avant-guard characteristic, Art furniture eroded the distinction between art and design. By analyzing focusing on the furniture artists and their works in contemporary art furniture deployment aspects since the 1980s, the purpose of this study can be utilized as a method to measure the forward direction, internationally competitive, creativity, and artistic value of the domestic art furniture.

• Journal of the Korea Furniture Society
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.324-336
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• 2007

Throughout the twentieth century, American furniture was subject to a number of influences-both domestic and foreign. Especially, in the first half of the twentieth century, there were strong foreign influences compare to the later half of the century. Therefore, this study aimed for discussing foreign influences and for addressing issues such as attitudes toward materials, ornamentation, and technology. As a result, this study suggests how American furniture becomes instinctive moving away from strong foreign influences from the second half of the century. The twentieth century was a period of rapid and dynamic change for American furniture design. In many ways, the designs throughout the century were reflective of the social, political, and economic culture of the time. With the birth of the modern movement in Europe and a strong influx of foreign immigrants, American design in the first half of the century was characterized by a reliance on European and foreign influences. However, after the two world wars, strong domestic influences came into play. The two world wars provided the essential catalysts for change: new materials, developing technology, and changes in life style and consumer values. A historical examination of design trends and individual designers illustrates how American furniture design evolved during this period.

• Journal of the Korea Furniture Society
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.91-101
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• 2001

This study explored the trend of postwar period American furniture design and analyzes the contexts of the trend. To be more specific, this study categorized the types of the styles or "looks" of furniture which were dominant in postwar period America: the machine look ; the handicraft look ; the biomorphic look. The background and the context for each look were traced back and analyzed both diachronically and synchronically. Based on the analysis, this study provided two conclusions. First, postwar period American furniture design is in many ways indebted to the World War II, because the war itself and postwar economic revival produced high demands for furniture, which consequently produced a variety of looks of furniture. Second, the furniture design in this period is attributed to commercialism and consumer-oriented design policy formulated in the mid 1920′s when American design established its own identity separating from European avant-gardism.

• Journal of the Korea Furniture Society
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.24-30
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• 2018

George Nakashima (1905-1990) is a second-generation Japanese American who was one of the pioneers of the American Studio Furniture movement. Known for the use of natural timber shape of furniture design, Nakashima's furniture shows the aesthetic characteristics of Japan, which distinguishes it from the furniture of other American studio designers. But Nakashima has been regarded as simply a studio furniture designer, designing furniture that takes its natural form. Therefore, research is needed from a more diverse point of view, and the process of interpreting the cultural backgrounds of a designer becoming a design may be an important subject of study. Thus, this study attempts to interpret the hierarchy of design cultures belonging to a studio designer and to identify cultural characteristics that are not apparent. Therefore, through a process of studying from visible to invisible levels of cultural hierarchy, the study analyzed the aesthetic characteristics of the Nakashima's furniture, his personal experience of Japanese culture, and philosophical background.

• Journal of the Korea Furniture Society
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• v.20 no.6
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• pp.590-598
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• 2009

The study of Lurelle Van Arsdale Guild (1898-1986)'s vanity table and stool in the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum is essential to understand how the stylistic change was made on industrial design in the 1930s caused by economic necessity. The vanity furniture expresses in such relatively inexpensive image transformations that would attract new customers in the Depression. The objects are donated from a collector and became one of CHM's collections in 1997. In curatorial file, other than the designer's and manufacturer's names there is nothing specified for these objects. Therefore, this study is aimed for researching the exact date for these valuable objects for understanding American Art Deco furniture in the 1930s. Moreover, studying social aspect of these objects gives clear vision for the background. Especially, the History of American Standard (Rodengen, 1999) gives great over view to the history of the manufacturer, C. F. Church Company. The record in Fortune of 1934 suggests the designer, Lurelle Guild's position among other industrial designers at that time. And Profoundly, the objects were assigned design patents. Therefore, the vanity furniture set in the CHM was a significant symbol of early modernism rising from functional areas after the Depression.

• Journal of the Korea Furniture Society
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• v.16 no.2 s.30
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• pp.85-93
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• 2005

There are several way to classify the furniture. The furniture can be classified into use, style, and function, but if the furniture is classified into the way of production, it can be the industrial furniture and the studio furniture. Especially, technology and function of the furniture are important elements in industrial furniture. However, it could be considered artists' character and concept as more important elements in the studio furniture. The studio furniture had come out one of the historical movement in American furniture field after the World War II. This case to apply found objects began to increase after the 1970s. Using objects In furniture design field had built up sprightly after end of 1950s. This expression could be the statement of new expression that essential properties of matter in objects is removed. I try to suggest original and interesting furniture design to apply found objects in this thesis. Especially, I use the Korean traditional objects for the furniture and try to make their essential function to be changed. Also, I focus on furniture design to have formative element in their shapes.

• Journal of the Korea Furniture Society
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.49-59
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• 2002

The studio furniture movement that expanded in the United States after the Second World War was truly American creation representing highly sophisticated individualism versus industrial anonymity. The studio furniture movement can be traced back to the 1930s in terms of its influences and emergences. Based on the ideals of Arts and Crafts movements from the earlier decades, studio furniture movement emerged in the 1950s in reaction to Bauhaus inspired industrially produced furniture. Studio furniture has represented an alternative for people who wanted individual objects in their homes rather than industrially produced products. Opposed to plastics and industrial materials, artists in studio furniture mainly focused on one natural material, emphasizing its singular beauty. There were significant roles and influences of craft education along with Scandinavian influences in terms of spreading out the movement. A historical examination of furniture from the 1930s until the 1960s illustrates how this significant movement began in the mid-century.

• Journal of the Korea Furniture Society
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.205-215
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• 2010

The professional alliance between disciplines of architecture and furniture design in the interwar years as displayed in the prominent architectural exhibitions of the era is interesting in the context of professionalization of American architecture. The way furniture design gradually became part of the architectural shows not only reflected but provided the practical field in which the architectural institution sought, under the new social order since the mid 1910s, a new professional cast-departing from the former milieu in the realm of high-art by the Beaux-Arts Movement. Exhibitions held by the Architectural League of New York in the 1920s revealed that the early impetus for reformation toward efficiency had been subsumed by the system of Beaux-Arts. By contrast, "The Architect and the Industrial Arts" show of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, in which the most prominent architects of the era exercised their professional expertise in the design of "Moderne Style" interior furnishings, clearly shows how architects, in the milieu of expanding commercial market, sought to align their profession as industrial designers.

• Journal of the Korea Furniture Society
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.85-99
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• 2006

Fredrick Krause's chair in the Brooklyn Museum of Art (accession no. 87. 19) is a key to the understanding of factory-made, patent furniture, and the Modern Gothic style in the United States. However, research has rarely done for this chair as well as for the designer. Since this piece is incorporating the utility patent, it is a valuable example to understand the nineteenth-century patented furniture. Because of the popularity of Modern Gothic style, the similar style of chairs were often manufactured. This study explores how other examples are related and what the significance of the Brooklyn Museum chair is. The book of Sharon Darling provided especially helpful information about other Krause chairs in Fond du Lac and chair manufactures in Chicago. The interview with John Ebert at Galloway House in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin was especially helpful. Several primary sources proved helpful in researching the chair. The photo archives. of Kimbel and Cabus at the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum provides me a key to this research.

• Journal of the Korea Furniture Society
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.89-100
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• 2006

Minimalism describes various movements in art and design, which flourished mainly in the USA in the 1960s. Its popularity, however, was cut short by post-modernism. In the mid-1990s, minimalism was given a second breath of life and became culturally popular, especially in areas such as design and art the minimalist movement launched some trends that supplanted post-modernism and whose influences still cast a heavy shadow on society today. From this point of view, in analyzing the form and characteristics of the artists and their work from the 1960s, which were the first generation of the minimalist furniture designers, it is necessary to understand and analyze contemporary artists and their art. In this study, four American minimal artists in the furniture design field, Donald Judd, Richard Tuttle, Scott Burton, and Richard Artschwager were studied along with their works. The results show the three distinct characteristics of minimalist furniture design featuring strict and simple geometric shapes: the form, which was influenced by early modernism variety and origin, which are formative of the materials and the way they are used as influenced by surrealism and a new concept of art such as aesthetics for the little things, which echoes influences of Dadaism, and especially of earlier artists such as Marcel Duchamp.