We wanted to add our contribution to the celebrations commemorating the 100 year birthday of Czechoslovakia. We have put together 10 Czech furniture designers whose iconic pieces have given us all so much joy. Happy Birthday!
No. 1
We have to start with Jindrich Halabala: an industrial designer, writer, and educator; and a significant proponent of modernist, industrially manufactured furniture in Czechoslovakia.
He is most well known for the design of the H269 chair, but here we show the H79 Tubular chair from 1931, demonstrating his incredible talent and skill.
No. 2
Jiří Jiroutek is a furniture and interior designer whose U-450 series of modular sideboards became the leading example of the Czech “Brussels Style” furniture, following the Expo 58.
No. 3
These Oak Chairs were designed by František Jirák and produced by Tatra nabytok in the 1960s. A design characteristic of the Soviet era with stripped back aesthetics and an economy of material.
No. 4
Helena Frantova was the designer of this famous desk or wall lamp, nicknamed the “Chinese woman”. The Type N-30 was produced in 1953, Czechoslovakia.
No. 5
Ludvik Volak is most famous for his flower wall unit or room divider made from bent beech plywood. It was produced by Drevopodnik Holesov in the 1960s and remains timeless with it’s geometric patterns and round corners.
No. 6
Miroslav Navratil is most famous for the design of the chair shown here, a proposal which was created for the Milan Triennial in 1959. He is also well known for his developmental work with new materials such as fibreglass, the designs of which are inspired by the work of Eames.
No. 7
Ladislav Žák was an architect, painter, architectural theorist and teacher. In his early thirties, he built several villas which are considered masterpieces of Czech functionalism. Later on in his life, he focused mainly on landscape architecture and furniture design.
No. 8
Originally starting as a designer of electrical appliances for Napako in the late 1940s, Josef Hurka later became the company’s main lighting designer. The lamp shown here, No. 1621, exemplifies his conceptual approach to lighting design; marrying simple lines and forms with the materials and metalwork he had at his disposal at Napako.
No. 9
Antonin Suman was a furniture designer working mainly for the TON furniture company. Perhaps his most famous design are these iconic bentwood dining chairs.
No. 10
Jan Vanek is associated with the interior design of the interwar years. He was ahead of his time in introducing the organisation of each room and in designing furniture units. He was a designer and an architect, but also an important feminist, theoretician and advertising strategist!
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If you would like to read more about our favourite Czech Designers, you might like to read our post The Faces of Our Heroes
