40/1997
Collection
Furniture
Brief description
Stool made from bent birch plywood, manufactured by Venesta Ltd. in Estonia for the distributor Isokon, c.1930-1940.
Object name
stool
Object number
40/1997
Production organisation
Venesta Ltd (manufacturer)
Isokon (distributor)
Isokon (distributor)
Production date
1930-1940 (manufactured)
Production place
Estonia (manufactured)
England (retailed)
England (retailed)
Period
Twentieth century (1900-1999)
Material
plywood
metal
metal
Technique
bent
Physical description
The stool is made from three-ply birch plywood. The seat is square with rounded corners and a central depression. The base is constructed from two pieces of plywood scarfed together and pierced to form legs and feet. Each of the four feet have two small metal protectors. The seat is attached to the legs with a bolt and wing-nut, the head of the bolt appearing in the centre of the seat. There is a paper label with perforated edges stuck to the underside of the seat. It is printed in blue on an orange ground. In the background is a large V and in front is an oval shape. Above the oval are the words ‘fabriqué en Estonie’, within the oval is ‘Marque Déposée / VENESTA / Regd Trade Mark’ and below the oval is ‘Made in Estonia’. Handwritten in pencil on the base are the numbers and letter ‘51/46 / 4/1 / F’. There is also a faded stamp with words in capital letters which is now illegible.
Dimensions
Height: 45.5cm
Width: 33cm
Depth: 33cm
Width: 33cm
Depth: 33cm
Website keywords
seating
Label
Caption for Exploring 20th Century London website:
This bent plywood stool was made in Estonia by Venesta for the London firm Isokon in the 1930s. Venesta was a company specialising in the manufacture of plywood products; its name a hybrid of veneer and Estonia, where most of the goods were made. Isokon, set up in 1931 by Jack Pritchard, who had previously been at Venesta, was a progressive, and now much-revered, furniture and architectural company that characteristically used bent plywood in its modernist furniture designs.
Label text for the exhibition At Home with the World, Geffrye Museum (20 March 2012- 9 September 2012):
Stool
Bent birch plywood
Manufactured by Venesta Ltd., Estonia and distributed in Britain by Isokon, about 1930–40
Venesta, the name of the company which made this stool, is a combination of the words ‘veneer’ (the technique used to make it) and Estonia, the country where it was made. It was distributed by Isokon, Britain’s foremost modernist design company. Jack Pritchard, Isokon’s founder, was influential in promoting modernist architecture and design in Britain.
This bent plywood stool was made in Estonia by Venesta for the London firm Isokon in the 1930s. Venesta was a company specialising in the manufacture of plywood products; its name a hybrid of veneer and Estonia, where most of the goods were made. Isokon, set up in 1931 by Jack Pritchard, who had previously been at Venesta, was a progressive, and now much-revered, furniture and architectural company that characteristically used bent plywood in its modernist furniture designs.
Label text for the exhibition At Home with the World, Geffrye Museum (20 March 2012- 9 September 2012):
Stool
Bent birch plywood
Manufactured by Venesta Ltd., Estonia and distributed in Britain by Isokon, about 1930–40
Venesta, the name of the company which made this stool, is a combination of the words ‘veneer’ (the technique used to make it) and Estonia, the country where it was made. It was distributed by Isokon, Britain’s foremost modernist design company. Jack Pritchard, Isokon’s founder, was influential in promoting modernist architecture and design in Britain.
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© Museum of the Home, London
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© Museum of the Home, London
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© Museum of the Home, London
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