Hamburg Apartment

There's nothing baroque about the neo-baroque apartment of ad-man Wolfgang Behnken of Young & Rubicam, shown below. It is rather an almost miesian gallery of good design, with pieces by the Eames, Florence Knoll, Milo Baughman and Mies as well as a fantastic coffee table by George Nakashima. There are also many outstanding lamps: especially those by Serge Mouille and Christian Dell.

The apartment is mostly painted white, with few carpets and textiles, which really puts focus on the design pieces.  I suppose it does, however, require a certain type of person to live in this sort of almost barren atmosphere, but that does not change the fact that it looks stunning. Mr. Behnken also seems to have two livingrooms - perhaps one being the gentleman's room?

The kitchen and bathrooms are also very plain with their white mosaic tiles, and chairs by brit minimalist Jasper Morrison. Notice the construction-site-type lamps above the mirrors, which are actually of a quite beautiful design.

from ELLE DECOR italia



Those great-looking benches at the Roskilde Crematory reminded me of a couple of pieces of Danish design finished in blonde wood and tan leather:

A rare Ilse Rix dining set, oak, 60's.

Poul Kjaerholm's très japonais PK 27 lounge chairs and PK66 coffee table, PP Møbler, from 1971.

Kaare Klint's iconic Safari-chairs, here in ash,with a matching slate-top taple; designed 1933; produced by Rud Rasmussen.

An ash Wegner CH?? with the characteristic swivel-back, produced by Carl Hansen & Søn; I'm guessing 50's...

Lastly, these rarer leather-covered versions of Arne Jacobsen's Milano Triennale Grand Prix-winning chairs model 3130. Laminated beech legs; designed in '57; produced by Fritz Hansen.

All these pieces are available from Jackson's.

Roskilde Krematorium

Today I drove down to  Roskilde to pick up some interesting and rare Wegner chairs I had bought (but more on them later). I went by the crematory, a stunningly simple exhibiton of roman brick, bronze and copper, and oak and leather on the inside, created by a young Henning Larsen in 1963. The three buildings surround an intimate courtyard, and is flanked by a beautiful graveyard. The asymetric shape of the chapel hall does bring to mind Sigurd Lewerentz 1925 Chapel of the Resurrection, interestingly enough. I take it that even then architects were inspired by the strange neo-classicism of Skogskyrkogården.

My pictures weren't very good, so you'll have to do with these nice vintage ones:

Wegner & Oak

Deck Chaise Longue for Johannes Hansen

GE19

CH27

CH33

CH28

Daybed for Getama

CH07

GE375

CH24

Röda raden

Real estate agent Tradition is selling this amazing house in Stockholm. Terrace houses are something of a Swedish tradition, but this one is qute different. Built in 1965 by ELLT Arkitekter, "Röda Raden" ("The Red Row") is very modern with an incredibly smart floorplan, creating a living room with high ceilings and large windows, and seperarating the bedrooms to the upper level. At the same time, the house is painted Falu rödfärg, making an interesting link to tradition, rare for its time.

Some pictures by Joachim Beliaeff.

The traditional swedish red colour was recently used by Tham & Videgård on their Karlsson house from 2004.

Ole Gjerløv Knudsen

Prototype

In Vein of the Last Post

Josef Frank tea wagon for Svensk Tenn

Wegner Wingback chair for Carl Hansen & Søn

Pia Wallén "Crux" blanket

Wegner's "The Chair"

Flag Halyard chair by Wegner

"Dömaskär" by Timo Sarpaneva, from Jackson's

"Festivo" candleholders from 1966 by Timo Sarpaneva, now produced again by Iittala

Sideboard by Arne Vodder