Robert Venturi Chippendale Chair

The pierced backslat of this chair, like its name, is an ironic allusion to Thomas Chippendale, the great 18th century cabinet maker. This printed pattern is known as ‘Grandmother’s Tablecloth’ for its similarity to 1950s-style chintz.

The suitability of laminated bentwood as a material for reproducing a Chippendale style chair is a kind of design joke. This humour and irreverence is an important feature of postmodernism. Postmodern furniture takes key styles from historic periods and uses them in unexpected ways, often juxtaposing very different ideas in the same piece.

Knoll Museum Chippendale Chair Prototype

Robert Venturi: Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture

First published in 1966, and since translated into 16 languages, this remarkable book has become an essential document in architectural literature. As Venturi’s “gentle manifesto for a non-straightforward architecture,” Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture expresses in the most compelling and original terms the postmodern rebellion against the purism of modernism. Three hundred and fifty architectural photographs serve as historical comparisons and illuminate the author’s ideas on creating and experiencing architecture.

The Architecture of Robert Venturi

Chippendale Style Side Chair (set Of 2)

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