Pierre Paulin Mid-century Modern Chair Designer

The ubiquitous garden-variety, plastic chair...

...and its variations found throughout the world.

I have come across this chair in almost every place I have travelled to. It is inexpensive, light, portable, stackable and weatherproof making it accessible to so many people. It has enabled people around the world to sit in comfort alone and in groups, up off the floor to dine, learn, work. We have all seen this chair but have you ever thought about who designed what has become a universal commodity?

Vienna, 2003, Brian Jungen 

Brian Jungen is a Canadian artist who understands the universality of the white plastic chair and has used it in a series of 3 powerful works.

more info on Jungen's work here

Don't worry that you don't know the designer because that is the way he likes it. He wants to remain anonymous and for you to just enjoy living with his designs.

 

That is why this poster of an exhibition of Maia and Pierre Paulin's designs caught my attention when we were travelling in the Cevennes region in southern France. We were learning about the history of the silk industry in an old silk factory now the Maison Rouge Museum when we came across a room full of Mid Century Modern furniture.

Tulip chair, 1950, Pierre Paulin

It was the French designer Pierre Paulin who designed the white plastic chair and many other iconic chairs and furniture. This room was a treasure trove of his and his wife, Maia 's work.

 Orange Slice chair, 1960, Pierre Paulin

It was fun to walk through the museum and recognize chair after chair and realise I had never before put them all together as one designer's work.

Ribbon chair, 1966, Pierre Paulin

I wondered why this small regional museum had such a large collection of Paulin's chairs and furniture. I did a bit of research. Paulin was born in Paris and worked internationally but it was in the nearby Cevennes Mountains National Park he 'retired' and continued to design.

 Tongue chair, 1968, Pierre Paulin

Maybe the furniture in this exhibition had come from his home nearby where his wife Maia continues to live.

 Banquette Amphis or the Osaka sofa (1967), Pierre Paulin

Pierre Paulin left the spotlight of international design several times in his career and worked for many years in his wife's design company, where he designed utilitarian things such as razors and irons.

Pierre Paulin's portable iron design, a first.

He has been quoted as saying "Objects should remain anonymous."

I wonder how many of the everyday products I use were originally Pierre or Maia Wodzislawska designs?

I need to rewatch some James Bond movies to do some Paulin furniture spotting.

Colour: A Personal Response Exhibition at ArtSea Gallery in Tulista Park, Sidney

Opening Reception of Colour: A Personal Response - Lesley and Sarah.

Thank you, Louise, for thinking of and taking a photograph of the 2 of us on the night of the opening.

The gallery waiting for the first viewers.

Each of the works is monochromatic, made using only one colour.

We hung the work with Sarah's making a colour wheel going clockwise around the room.

And my work making an intersecting colour wheel going anticlockwise around the room.

The result was each work was hung in a group with its complement.

At the small books table, we asked people to pick a colour and write their thoughts or feelings about that colour. It was a popular centre on the opening night and throughout the week.

I love the little drawings the children made.

Sarah and I spent our time while sitting the exhibition talking to people about how the work came about and what our concept was. There were lots of conversations in front of the works over the week also.

People stopped to read our artist statements and bios.

Sarah at the front desk keeping track of visitors, sales and answering questions.

Sarah had cards for each of her works for sale and did a brisk business.

Each work had its colour book. Sarah's were a result of her research on each artist she studied and made a work on. My books were marks showing the energy of each colour in a different medium - paint.

The fabric colour cards were displayed on turntables grouped by temperature.

The cool colours of the colour wheel.

The warm colours.

We sold a good number of individual fabric colour cards but the packs with all of the colours were the most popular.

The tally of visitors to the show tell it was a successful exhibition. For Sarah and I, we know it was successful because of the interest shown in our work by so many people over the week. They wanted to hear all about everything to do with how the idea started to how we worked, how we made each work and how we hung the work. There were people who came back again bringing other friends with them. Our viewers wrote lots of encouraging words in the guest book and have sent us emails of thanks since.

Sarah and I want to thank everyone who came to the exhibition and also all of those who have supported us while we worked to produce this body of work.

The exhibition is going to be travelling for a while. I'll keep you posted on where it will be stopping.

New Work: 24 Synesthesia Colour Studies

I continue to work on my Synesthesia colour studies.

I used lots of thread on this one.

For each colour, I also work in paint and fabric to show a range of tints, tones, shades and intensities of each colour.

I went pretty dark with this colour - mmmm one of my favourites.

When I am in full swing all of the horizontal surfaces in my studio are in use. While one thing is drying I can get on with something else. 

Making progress but still lots to do to finish this series.

My New Reliable Velocity Iron

This is my old Reliable Velocity iron. It has been reliable but after 5 years I have worn it out. It is not worth repairing, the cost of which would include having to ship it both ways across the country. It is no longer made and has been replaced by an updated model.

This is my new Reliable Velocity iron. I am hoping it has kept the best features of the older model and improved on others.

New on the right. There are a lot more and smaller steam holes. The grooves that shot the steam along the sole plate have gone. It will be hard to compare if the new is more effective but here's hoping.

The top point is pointier - a good feature for detail work but I use this iron mainly for flat yardage. The back is curvier which makes it harder to tell when the straight edge of the fabric is covered with the sole plate.

New on the right. The main difference is the push button digital readout has gone. This was the feature that failed on the older model. My resident engineer says it would have been very difficult to keep the electronics sealed away from the steam chamber. The temperature is now controlled by a manual dial.

The water sprayer has gone. That is OK because I didn't use this feature. The steam-generating chamber produced enough steam to smooth out the driest and most wrinkled fabrics.

The new model has a clearer plastic water chamber so it is easier to see the water level. As a consequence, I don't overfill it as often. 

New on the right. The water filter (bottom left on the older model) has gone. With a steam generator, the water quality can affect its lifespan and efficiency. I am filling the new iron with only distilled water to avoid the buildup of scale and rust in the chamber. Even though the shop I bought the first iron from told me it was OK to leave water in the chamber all of the time, I now empty it at the end of each session. It will make a difference in prolonging the life of the iron.

New on the right. The water fillers illustrate the newer model has a smaller water chamber holding about a third less water. I consider this a negative feature because it means I have to refill it more often. 

I poured water from the old container into the newer iron and this is the leftover water. I don't know if you can see the water line here.

After a short time using the new iron I found another negative feature. I kept naturally putting my hand forward of the rubber handle and unintentionally pushing the buttons with my palms. I found it was easy to bump the circular dial to a different setting. At first, I thought this heavy iron, which I like the weight of, was unbalanced in that my hand went to the centre point and covered the buttons.

 Then I noticed when I kept my hand back away from the buttons my fingers were scrunched against the back of the handle. I have decided the handle design was too short.

I really like that this iron is so heavy. It does a great job without my having to put any weight on the handle. All I need to do is guide it with my hand. 

When ironing I aim to keep the iron down and in contact with the cloth as much as possible and to lift it only when I need to move the fabric. By using the weight of the iron and its feature of being able to continuously produce steam I can get a lot of ironing done relatively quickly for little effort on my part. This is the main reason why I bought this brand again. I am hoping its modifications and my better care of it will ensure we have a long and happy life together.

What is your favourite iron? I would be interested to hear from you.

Working With Itten's 7 Colour Contrasts

"Our sense organs can function only by means of comparisons. The eye accepts a line as long when a shorter line is presented for comparison. The same line is taken as short when the line compared with it is longer. Colour effects are similarly intensified or weakened by contrasts." Itten The Elements of Color, p. 32

Itten's 7 kinds of colour contrast:

1. Contrast of hue

2. Light-dark contrast

3. Cold-warm contrast

4.Complementary contrast

5.Simultaneous contrast

6. Contrast of saturation

7. Contrast of extension

With this Synesthesia series of work, I am working with one hue/colour at a time, defined as a monochromatic colour scheme. It means I am not able to use #1. Contrast of hue. For each individual work to be successful I need to work with other colour properties to achieve contrast.

The Synesthesia series aims to show how I feel about each colour's energy. To express that energy I focus on line, without making a thing, shape or motif and I work with value. #2 Light-dark contrast is my main design tool

# 2. Light-dark contrast. Here I have overlapped with an off-set, dark to light threads over a dark to light ground.

To me, this colour evokes calmness, an immensity in its calmness. To give this feeling I need to show a low level of contrast but still need to have some contrasting elements for the work to be successful, otherwise, there is no energy at work.

I took advantage of one of textiles' strongest features - texture. This low contrast dark to light fabric line up is still interesting to the eye because each fabric has a different texture.

These fabrics also show #6 Contrast of saturation at a low level but the eye can still see a brighter blue beside a dull blue.

When checking for #2 Light-dark contrast I look through a 'Ruby-Beholder' - a red or green plastic strip and or I take a picture with my camera to get a black and white image. 

Here I decided there was just enough contrast of light and dark for the eye/brain to notice while still giving off a calm vibe.

Including too wide a range of light to dark generally is not successful. One needs to limit the range of values to a group or block along the light-dark continuum.

When I am designing a work I take out all of the fabrics I have that would be suitable as far as their other characteristics are concerned. I arrange them in a continuous line from light to dark. I then look along the line to decide which section would best express the feel and energy of that colour. I work with fabrics in that section and put away those either side of the chosen ones.

I am making colour cards to go with each Synesthesia work. The cards have strips of fabric glued to them. When I select the fabrics I aim for the maximum range of values, saturation, and cold-warm contrast because the purpose of the cards is to show the full range of the colour's properties.

A stop for a quick dark-light check during construction. 

Is there enough contrast to effectively express the energy I feel from this colour?

When I make work I do a lot of research and pre-planning in a sketchbook. Next, I sample with the actual fabrics. When I am actually making the work it feels as though I am back at the trial and error stage but this time I am working towards producing that image or feeling I have of what the work should be and it guides my decisions.