Furniture Books

I have found that the Arne Jacobsen- Compact Design Portfolio is an excellent introduction to the many accomplishments of this legendary Danish Architect and Designer. This book features many of the products that he designed back in the 1950's and 60's, most of which are still in production today. This book also includes many of his Architectural achievments such as the SAS Royal Hotel, Copenhagen. I highly recommend it for anyone studying Design and Architecture. He was "The man" and way ahead of his time.

Alistair Duncan presents us 85 of Paris's Art Deco furniture designers from the period 1910 - 1935, including Eileen Gray, Dufréne, Leleu and Ruhlmann. This fine book contains a 7 pages informative introduction with e.g. the history and material of Art Deco furniture. But also 160 pages of biographies of designers, including 244 black and white illustrations & 68 in colour of interiors and furniture, each with a description. Each designer is presented in a concise half a page review. It makes this book an indispensable guide and frame of reference to french Art Deco furniture and a nice book to have on the bookshelf.

i,d love art nouveau furnitur

During the 1960s, the Clairtone Sound Corporation had a meteoric success in design and was known for its ability to reflect the spirit of those turbulent, sophisticated, cosmopolitan, experimental times. Founded in 1958 by two young Canadians, Peter Munk and David Gilmour, Clairtone was especially acclaimed for its iconic designs and masterful designs for everything from stereo cabinetry to television panels. Their advertising successes made Clairtone designs an integral part of the popular culture. Their rise to prominence was as dramatic as their sudden collapse and is provided with an insightful commentary by co-authors Nina Munk and Rachel Gotlieb. Enhanced with 250 illustrations (including previously unpublished drawings, rare film stills, confidential memorandums and original photography), this informed and informative corporate history is enhanced further with interviews with its founders, designers, engineers and salesman and is a fitting memorial to one of the most iconoclastic companies that Canada has ever produced. A fascinating read, "The Art Of Clairtone: The Making Of A Design Icon, 1958-1971" is highly recommended reading as a model corporate history.

This book gives detailed descriptions of mat cutting. Many inspiring ideas for the beginner and pro picture framer.

John Makepeace is an internationally famous designer. This book took 11 of the world's top craftsmen and commissioned them to provide plans for 10 unusual peices of furniture. There are 3 sections to the book:

The first section, John Makepeace teaches you "how to use the special potentials of wood, wood in it's natural state, methods of seasoning, and unique preparation of timber prior to making your furniture.

The second section. gives 30 different plans for unusual and beautiful furniture including garden furniture. There are step by step color photos and diagrams with clear instructions.

The last section of this wonderful book is intended to help amateur woodworkers ot overcome problems with their equipment that will help them become more effective.

The furniture designers include James Krenov, Richard La Trobe Bateman, Fred Baier, Norman Beverton,, Ashley Cartwright, Wendell Castle, John Hardy, Sam Maloof, Richard Raffan, Howard Raybould, Bob Stocksdale.

This book if for the woodworker who wants to make a unique and artistic piece of furniture. It is not your average furniture how-to build book, although plenty of wonderful photos and diagrams are given for each unique project.

The color photographs are nice and the steps are easy to follow. This even comes with a napkin to practice with. Another book you may want to sample is Olga's Frumpy Folds by Olga Schpitfeir.

I bought my copy in England 25 year ago. This book presents English antique furniture based on construction techniques and methods. The late Mr. Negus came from a family of craftsmen and became familiar with construction techniques for furntiure at an early age. He states in the foreword that he selected Mr. Butler as the most knowledgeable person to write this book based on their interactions at auctions. I have applied the knowledge presented and never found it wanting.

If you want to know the construction techniques that distinguish true English antiques (period pieces) from reproductions and fakes, then this is the book for you. Although I have long since disposed of any true antiques I might have owned, I have kept the book as a valued friend. It sits in the (modern) bookcase next to my bed.

Tarule, himself a furniture-maker in Vermont making reproductions of 17th-century furniture, tells Thomas Dennis's story almost as if Dennis were a character in a novel. Dennis was one of the first furniture-makers in America to gain notoriety. Coming to America and settling in the Massachusetts village of Ipswich in the mid 1600s, Dennis used many of the techniques and styles found in British furniture-making of this period. Yet having to select appropriate trees from American forests, usually in consideration of village laws relating to certain kinds of trees, work with other American craftsmen, make furniture to order from nearby residents, and give it suitable embellishments for attractiveness, Dennis is seen as an originator of American woodworking and furniture-making. But in this work, Tarule is not interested in a study of furniture-making, or a history of it. The author's concern is the work and expertise Dennis put into making one oak chest. From the author's following this in detail, one learns a great deal about 17th-century furniture-making and also the regional Colonial society. For Dennis is viewed in the narrative as both a extraordinary and respected craftsman and a member of the community which supported and shaped his trade. Tarule does not simply say what kind of wood the particular chest was made of, but takes the reader right with Dennis as he goes to the nearby woods looking for a tree with suitable oak tree, keeping in mind the village's laws. "As soon as Thomas Dennis entered the Ipswich woods, he was in the New World. The forest was primordial...The sort of trees Dennis looked for are apparent in his furniture. The wood is close grained...." And so on with a discussion of different types of oak trees whose characteristics Ipswich artists knew from "forest type, slope degree and direction, dampness of the ground, soil conditions, and even genetic variation on local trees." Tarule even engages in a comparison of British forests and American forests of the period, and changes in American forests over time. Tarule weaves a fascinating narrative under the general heading of Americana of interest to diverse readers such as antique dealers, woodworkers, and American Colonial historians.

While this book covers many already familiar houses, the layout is thoughtful and inventive, the text is informative while including many interesting asides that make it one of the best introductions to the topic that I've seen. If you just want one book on the Arts and Crafts house, this is it.