There’s furniture you buy on a quick whim, then there’s the design classics that you um and ah over, invest in and keep forever and ever. I’m talking about the Eames chairs, Saarinen tables and Barcelona chairs of the world. These will never go out of fashion, they’re classics for a reason – timeless forms using pioneering processes that even today’s designers are struggling to compete with.
But, not everyone (including myself…) can afford a design classic. And that’s where the interior designer and stylist’s secret comes in – sample sales – opportunities to grab a bargain, many ex-showroom displays or re-runs at up to 70% off. Knoll, famous for its Bauhaus design philosophy, is hosting its 10th sample sale this weekend. I had a sneak peek yesterday and let me tell you it’s a design lovers paradise – the whole Clerkenwell showroom has been cleared out and stocked with row upon row of designer sofas, chairs and tables. I spotted Marcel Breuer’s cane and bent tubular steel Model B32 chair, that I’ve seen all over Pinterest, and some seriously reduced Barber & Osgerby sofas.
To celebrate the sale’s 10th anniversary, Knoll UK has picked out 10 must-have star buys, ranging from Mies van der Rohe’s Barcelona Day Bed to Marcel Breuer’s Wassily Chair and my all time favourite, Eero Saarinen’s tulip table. Below are some of my top choices.
The Barcelona day bed was designed for Mies van der Rohe’s now-iconic German Pavilion at the 1929 International Exposition in Barcelona. For the project, he also designed his famous Barcelona chairs as a graceful resting place for the King and Queen of Spain. They referenced the campaign chairs of Ancient Rome with their signature criss-cross frames.
Inspired by the surprising strength of the apple crates he played on as a child, ‘starchitect’ Frank Gehry created these extraordinary bentwood chairs in 1990. They’re a really unusual statement piece.
I’ve sung the praises of Saarinen’s tulip table many times before. For the design of this Pedestal Collection of tables, Eero Saarinen vowed to eliminate what he deemed the ‘slum of legs’, reducing the messy clutter of chair and table legs to one sculptural pedestal. He worked over five years, producing hundreds of drawings, 1:4 scale models and mock-ups, to create that perfect curve.
Inspired by the frame of a bicycle and influenced by the constructivist theories of the De Stijl movement, Marcel Breuer was still an apprentice at the Bauhaus when he reduced the classic club chair to its elemental lines and planes. A true classic.
In addition, 10 iconic Bertoia chairs will be available at £100, coinciding with the 100th anniversary of the birth of its creator Harry Bertoia (first come, first served, so be quick!). I’ve been lusting after one of these for an age…
The Italian-born artist and designer, who worked with Charles and Ray Eames on new techniques for moulding plywood in the 1940s, was a sculptor by trade and only actually created one furniture collection in his lifetime. These shell-like chairs, delicate in appearance, bear the hallmarks of his abstract metal works that resonated with sound when touched or had moving parts that chimed with the wind. Bertoia once said: ‘In sculpture, I am concerned primarily with space, form and the characteristics of metal. In the chairs many functional problems have to be satisfied first… but when you get right down to it, the chairs are studies in space, form and metal too.’
Normally retailing around the £500-600 mark, in my eyes these are an absolute bargain. They’re the perfect piece to start off a modernist design collection – they’re timeless and minimal, and work with both a sleek contemporary space or something a bit more bohemian. Happy sale shopping!
The Knoll Sample Sale is taking place at Knoll International, 91 Goswell Road, Clerkenwell, London EC1V 7EX on Saturday 21st November 2015 from 10am to 4pm.
This post was written in collaboration with Knoll UK, all thoughts and opinions are my own.
