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Federick Weinberg for the Birds?

Birdcage by Weinberg sold at Wright's Auction

Sunday Lewis made a delivery to the D.C. area.  Since he was that far from our home base in the Northern Neck of Virginia, he decided, "What the heck, I think that I'll just go out junking."  So he set off from there in hunt of whatever might cross his path.  We have learned that you never know what you might find, or where for that matter.  Lewis happened into a shop that had older garden stuff just looking. He came across a large bird cage. He had seen a similar cage in another high end shop and was familiar with it's designer, Frederick Weinberg.  He purchased the cage and brought it home along with a few other pieces that he found.

I was not familiar with Frederick Weinberg.  So my task at hand was to learn about him and his work.  I have had to hurry in order to keep up with my son, so that I might sound like I am up on all the items in the shop.  The birdcage that he found is very similar to the one above that sold at auction, but the one he found is designed to hang.  It is the same size and design otherwise. The one below is shaped like a bird. ironic.

Bird Shaped Birdcage by Weinberg

I never realized how many old interesting birdcages are out there.  I happen upon this page on 1stdibs.  Click and enjoy.

Frederick Weinberg was based in Philadelphia.  He has an artist as well as an industrial designer.  He produced decorative wall sculptures in fiber glass and wire. His company bore his name. He manufactures lamps, furniture, and clocks for both home and businesses.  He is know for his Atomic clocks.

Weinberg Atomic Clock 1950 sold at Wright Auction

I think that his furniture is fun and imaginative as well as useful.  He used rattan with metal rods to create some unique pieces.

A Fun Bar Cart on Wheels

Interesting lamp on legs by Frederick Weinberg

He was an artist in his own wright.  Although he is better now for his production pieces. So many of his works are iconic to the 1950's. His works helped create the feel for the era.  Lastly here is one of his paintings.

Frederick Weinberg Live Auctioneers

Brad Pitt and Billie Haines, Actors & Furniture Designers

Listening to the news this morning, I learned that Brad Pitt was designing furniture.  I could not help but make the connection with another Hollywood icon and heart throb, Billie Haines.

 William (Billie) Haines was an actor in the early movies of the 1930's and later became a furniture designer.

Billy Haines design coffee table

Drawing a parallel here Brad Pitt, actor has been a heart throb for years.  He began to be interested in design when he discover Frank Lloyd Wright in College.  Ever since 1990 he has dabbled in design sketching out his ideas. We are not saying that Pitt is another Billie Haines, but it is an interesting correlation.
Artistic people tend to excel in more than one type of artistic endeavor.    

Two tables designed by Pitt to be on the market soon

 Brad Piitt has been working with Frank Pollaro, who has a firm in New Jersey, that is noted for its reproductions of Art Deco furnishings.  Pitt had ordered a reproduction desk from Pollaro.  While Pollaro was installing the piece he saw a book of sketches that Pitt had been working on, and suggested that they might work together and produce some of his pieces.  Work began on a bed he designed,rom there they went on to produce several tables and chairs as well as a bath tub designed for two.

double bath tub for two by Brad Pitt for Pollaro

Pitt says that he is focused on quality in the extreme, Pollaro has the same exacting attention to quality and detail.  They have made a good team sharing similar principles in crafymanship and design.  There will be an opening of the new designs by Pitt and Pollaro on the sixteenth of November 2012.

Gino Sarfatti Lighting

Chandelier by Gino Sarfatti

Life does not always go the way one plans it.  Sometimes things and circumstances lead us into paths that are unexpected, and then sometimes wondrous things happen. Gino Sarfatti wanted to be an engineer, he attended the University of Genoa.  Circumstances changed his plans. His father's business took a turn for the worse, and he returned home to help out.  The family moved to Milan and he took a job as a salesman.  A friend asked him to make a lamp from a glass vase. He used a light from a coffee maker and was so fascinated by the process that he decided to open a lighting workshop.

Sixteen-arm Chandelier by Gino Sarfatti, Italian 1950s

He was so enthused that he had printed “Gino Sarfatti — Lighting razionale” (rational lighting) on the stationery of his first workshop.  He had no training in design and was completely self taught. Sarfatti worked directly with the craftsmen in developing his lighting fixtures, by doing this he gained a great knowledge of technical side of lighgting, thus being able to produce more and more imaginative types of lighting.  He developed around 700 lights of all sorts , which he called "light fittings".  He did this from the mid 1930's through the mid 1970's when he retired.

the "vine lamp" by Gino Sarfatti 1960's

In 1939 he helped to establish  Arteluce Company in Milan.  During World War II he was forced to flee Italy because his father was Jewish they stayed in Switzerland through out the war. He returned after the war to resume command of the company.  He believed that function should dictate form, and that all advances in technology should be thoroughly exploited.  He is know for his innovated designs in the lighting field.  In the early years he concentrated on direction lighting, later in his career he worked with more sophisticate designs.  He hired designers to work in the company as well as going along with his own designs.  He rarely named his designs using a series of numbers to indicate the type of lighting. 

Gino Sarfatti For Arredoluce Triennale Floor Lamp