Model SP9B
Dining Chair
1936 (made)
1936 (made)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
Practical Equipment Ltd. was founded in 1931 by a consortium of steel tube manufacturers. The company emulated continental firms such as Thonet and wished to win the British market for metal furniture. This aim was boosted in their first year by winning the commission to furnish the London headquarters of the BBC in Langham Place.
Apart from a small minority, the British were resistant to what they felt was the cold, mechanical appearance of steel furniture for the home, and it proved more popular in public areas and work places. Manufacturers produced the furniture as a means of marketing steel tube, not for the utopian social concepts associated with European Modernism, the source of many of the designs.
Gareth Williams, 'British Design at Home', p.118
Apart from a small minority, the British were resistant to what they felt was the cold, mechanical appearance of steel furniture for the home, and it proved more popular in public areas and work places. Manufacturers produced the furniture as a means of marketing steel tube, not for the utopian social concepts associated with European Modernism, the source of many of the designs.
Gareth Williams, 'British Design at Home', p.118
Object details
| Category | |
| Object type | |
| Parts | This object consists of 7 parts.
|
| Title | Model SP9B (manufacturer's title) |
| Materials and techniques | Chrome-plated tubular steel and modern leather-cloth upholstery |
| Brief description | Dining chairs, Practical Equipment Ltd, Birmingham, 1936 |
| Physical description | Set of six dining chairs. The frame of chromed steel tube is formed at the base as three sides of a square with rounded corners. At the front it rises to form two slightly backward curving legs which rise above the seat rail to form curved arms, joining the side members of the back nearly at a right angle. The side rails of the seat are separate members welded inside the front legs, projecting straight backwards to rise after a curved join. The curved armrests follow the curvature of the arms. The seat is also slightly curving, it is screwed to flanges projecting from the side rails. The seat is formed of thick plywood, upholstered with black imitation leather (as are the arms and back). |
| Dimensions |
|
| Credit line | Given by Pel Ltd. |
| Historical context | Practical Equipment Ltd was founded in 1931 by a consortium of steel tube manufacturers. The company emulated continental fims such as Thonet and wished to win the British market for metal furniture. This aim was boosted in their first year by winning the commission to furnish the London headquarters of the BBC in Langham Place. Apart from a small minority, the British were resistant to what they felt was the cold, mechanical appearance of steel furniture for the home and it proved more popular in public areas and work places. Manufacturers produced the furniture as a means of marketing steel tube, not for the utopian social concepts associated with European Modernism, the source of many of the designs. [Gareth Williams, 'British Design at Home', p.118] |
| Subject depicted | |
| Summary | Practical Equipment Ltd. was founded in 1931 by a consortium of steel tube manufacturers. The company emulated continental firms such as Thonet and wished to win the British market for metal furniture. This aim was boosted in their first year by winning the commission to furnish the London headquarters of the BBC in Langham Place. Apart from a small minority, the British were resistant to what they felt was the cold, mechanical appearance of steel furniture for the home, and it proved more popular in public areas and work places. Manufacturers produced the furniture as a means of marketing steel tube, not for the utopian social concepts associated with European Modernism, the source of many of the designs. Gareth Williams, 'British Design at Home', p.118 |
| Bibliographic reference | Hawkins, Jennifer and Marianne Hollis (ed). Thirties : British art and design before the war. London: Arts Council, 1979. 320pp, ill. Number: 0728702169.
p.149 |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | W.93A-1978 |
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| Record created | February 7, 2000 |
| Record URL |
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