Harry Bertoia
A SET OF FOUR WIRE CHAIRS. No 420.
Chromed metal net. Leather cushion. Designed 1950-52.
Designer
The furniture designer, sculptor, jewelry designer, metalsmith, and artist Harry Bertoia was born in San Lorenzo in Italy in 1915 but emigrated to the United States as a 15-year-old, where his older brother lived. After studying art and design at Cass Technical High School in Detroit, he was awarded a scholarship for studies at the Cranbrook Academy of Art in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. During this period, he met the architect Walter Gropius, Charles and Ray Eames, Eero Saarinen, and Florence Schust Knoll, who influenced Bertoia's life and design.
Bertoia is known for having designed the Diamond Chair in braided steel wire for Knoll in 1952, which today is considered a modern design icon.
In the late 1950s, Bertoia was almost exclusively devoted to working with sculpture. His sculptural works were made in processed metal to be able to produce different sounds. Bertoia performed several concerts with the sculptures and recorded ten albums.