Test your design IQ
Who is this Finnish American architect and industrial designer famous varying his style according to the demands of his projects?
MANILA, Philippines - He was born on Aug. 20, 1910 and shared the same birthday as his father, Eliel. They moved to the US in 1923, when he was 13 years old. He grew up in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, where his father was a teacher at the Cranbrook Academy of Art.
In Sept. 1929, he studied sculpture at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière in Paris, France. He went on to study at the Yale School of Architecture, completing his studies in 1934. Subsequently, he toured Europe and North Africa for a year and returned for a year to Finland, after which he returned to Cranbrook to work for his father and teach at the academy.
He was recruited by Donal McLaughlin, an architectural school friend from his Yale days, to join the military service in the Office of Strategic Services (OSS). He was assigned to draw illustrations for bomb disassembly manuals and to provide designs for the Situation Room in the White House. He worked full-time for the OSS until 1944. After his father’s death in 1950, he founded his own architect’s office.
He first received critical recognition, while still working for his father, for a chair designed together with Charles Eames for the “Organic Design in Home Furnishings†competition in 1940, for which they received first prize. The “Tulip Chair,†like all his other chairs, was taken into production by the Knoll furniture company, founded by Hans Knoll.
During his long association with Knoll he designed many important pieces of furniture including the “Grasshopper†lounge chair and ottoman (1946), the “Womb†chair and ottoman (1948), the “Womb†settee (1950), side and arm chairs (1948–1950), and his most famous “Tulip†or “Pedestal†group (1956), which featured side and arm chairs, dining, coffee and side tables, as well as a stool. All of these designs were highly successful except for the “Grasshopper†lounge chair, which, although in production through 1965, was not a big success.
He is considered one of the masters of American 20th century architecture. He was criticized in his own time—most vociferously by critic Vincent Scully—for having no identifiable style; one explanation for this is that he adapted his modernist vision to each individual client and project, which were never exactly the same.
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Last week’s question: Who is the American celebrity chef whose Manresa Restaurant in California has been awarded two Michelin Stars for the past two years, and has been named one of the World’s 50 Best Restaurants?
Answer: David Kinch
Winner: Anjo Enriquez of Sampaloc, Manila
