Vintage wooden Barrel armchair by Frank Lloyd Wright for Cassina, Italy 1980s-1990s

Set of four early edition Iconic Barrel chairs designed by Frank Lloyd Wright in 1937 and produced by Cassina Italy in the late 1980's early 1990's. The set is in good vintage condition as can be seen in the images. A timeless design informed by exceptional constructive complexity, the iconic Barrel chair was created in 1937 by Frank Lloyd Wright, based on an original design dating from 1904. This barrel-shaped armchair is composed of 37 parts, each fitting into the other with pinpoint precision. The base and the chair back are constructed from three pieces of solid wood, bent at a different angles. Each of the three pieces is then cut in two to counterbalance the tensions created during the steam-bending and the drying processes. The two parts are then placed back-to-back and glued together. The joints are all carved directly into the wood, all the details are hand-finished by Cassina’s carpenters. Wright was born on June 8th, 1867 in Richland Center, Wisconsin, USA.Before his birth, his mother was determined that the child she was carrying would become the greatest architect of all time. A teacher herself, she discovered the Froebel system of education, known as the “kindergarten gifts”, according to which a child was taught to draw using basic geometric shapes and forms.His father was a preacher and musician and taught his son to listen to music as “an edifice of sound”. At the age of twenty he ran away from home and travelled to Chicago in pursuit of architecture, where he discovered the work of Adler and Sullivan, applied for a job, and worked directly under Louis Sullivan for nearly seven years. In 1893 he established his own practice. His work in and around Chicago from 1893 to 1909 heralded a new concept in architecture. The “Larkin Building” and “Unity Temple” saw innovations in design and engineering, made possible by the technology and materials of the twentieth century.By means of reinforced concrete, glass, steel, sheet metal and the cantilever (a support moved in from the edge), he developed an architecture in which the reality of the building was the space within. This evasive element - almost mystical by nature - of liberated interior space, is the pervading quality in everything he built. In 1932 Wright and his wife Olgivanna founded the Taliesin Fellowship, a school of architecture at their own home.Soon came the famous commissions for Fallingwater and the Johnson Wax Administration Building. As his work increased so did the power of his creative genius.There seemed to be no end to the variety of forms, ideas, shapes, spaces, concepts and innovations that poured forth from him. He left behind him a group of people dedicated to the conception of organic architecture: drawing upon the people of the Taliesin Fellowship, he established the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, which continue to preserve and safeguard the work, archives and principles of this great Master. Reference : 240090