news + events
Lie-Nielsen Toolworks at Danish Teak Classics March 16th-17th 2012
March 2nd, 2012To many of our clients, what goes on in the workshop is somewhat of a mystery, and few have had the opportunity to see their pieces in the mid-restoration phase. Even more of a mystery is how the pieces fresh off the boat from Denmark make their transformation from unloved and neglected, to revived and brilliant once again. This upcoming event, free and open to fellow woodworking enthusiasts, modernist lovers, clients and to the general public, will shed some light on the restoration processes here at Danish Teak Classics and how our woodworkers use traditional hand tools every day.
There is a certain skill set necessary to work with modern 20th century furniture. One may look at it's pared-down simplicity and think it would be rather easy to restore compared to an ornately-carved 19th century piece. However, it is quite the opposite, as the sleek simplicity leaves no room to hide flaws or mistakes. This event is not only a rare opportunity to see the inside workings of our shop, but it is also a chance for us to show the local community the high level of craftsmanship of our woodworkers. We are excited to host Lie-Nielsen's Hand Tool Event, and to put traditional woodworking skills in the context of modern design. The DTC Showroom will work as a venue to highlight local furniture designers who employ both modern and traditional tools to create modern functional objects.
Similar to DTC, Lie-Nielsen began with the intent to revive good old designs that had fallen out of production. Starting in 1981, Lie-Nielsen began reproducing high quality, well designed tools which were affordable to the average woodworker. Some designs have been refined and some materials have been replaced with a better substitute, but in essence, the tools retain the beautiful aesthetic of no-fuss functional tool made of fine materials. Lie-Nielsen states that they remain stubbornly local and old fashioned in their manufacturing preferences, sourcing wood from Maine, metal casting from a foundry in New England, and local labor.
Throughout the day, the Lie-Nielsen team will be on hand with educational sessions and demonstrations. Stop by anytime during the show hours on Friday or Saturday to expand your woodworking knowledge and try you hand at it with some of the finest tools around. Whether you are an experienced woodworker or just gaining interest, it matters not one bit. All are welcome!
Lie-Nielsen & DTC Event:
Friday, March 16, 10a – 6p
Saturday, March 17, 10a – 5p
Caroline Engel for Danish Teak Classics
Local Gallery Events in the Lyn-Lake
February 23rd, 2012I took the day to visit a few galleries in the Lyn-Lake neighborhood of Minneapolis. I had read a review of the Not About Bombs exhibition at Intermedia Arts a few days ago, and found the scope of the exhibit intriguing. The collection displays contemporary pieces by Iraqi woman with the intent to question and explore the identity perceived by the outside world and the inner reflections of the women themselves. The works challenge the contrived representation of Iraqi women by the Western media and expose truths of life in a war zone that we may not always consider.
Each of the 5 woman took a different, personal approach, representing their own personal struggle or experience living in Iraq today. Tamara Abdul Hadi portrayed the optimism of the youth through candid photos of female students at their high school graduation ceremony. In another set of photographs, we see the line of widows waiting for the financial aid that often barely supports their children and extended family members. After 9 years of war, there are an estimated 1 million widows in Iraq. On a comment board in the gallery, one visitor asked why s/he had never thought about the widows on that side of the war. It seems so obvious, but upon reading this comment, I realized I had never thought about them either.
Not About Bombs runs through March 3, 2012, with works by Sundus Abdul Hadi, Tamara Abdul Hadi, Julie Adnan, Dena Al-Adeeb, and Sama Alshaibi. On Friday, March, 2, 7:00-9:00p, curator Tricia Khutoretsky will monitor a Panel Discussion with three of the artists, Tamara Abdul Hadi, Dena Al-Adeeb, and Sundus Abdul Hadi, with the opportunity for an open Q&A session afterward.
After a long coffee break with my good friend, Eddie, he and I walked over to the Highpoint Center for Printmaking. Moving from its former studio space across from Bob's Java Hut on Lyndale Avenue, the Highpoint has gained substantial square footage to support its growing number of activities. The Highpoint recently held a juried competition for printmakers nationwide. The Stand Out Prints exhibition opens tomorrow evening with a reception from 6:30-9:00p. I got a sneak-peak today, and I highly recommend it, especially since the pieces are for purchase. The works vary widely in style and production method, but the quality is top notch in all. The competition received nearly 800 entries from 42 states, of which the jurors, Susan Inglett and Mark Pascale, selected 57 prints by 51 artists, representing 26 states. Of this lot, 10 Minnesotans make a strong showing, accounting for my personal favorite piece by Minnesota native, Jeremy Lund.
The Highpoint Center for Printmaking offers a number of opportunities for established artists and the curious alike. Each second Tuesday, the TWOxTUE events invite the public in for free talks, demonstrations, live music, and opportunities to speak with artists. Each event is different and inevitably a good time.
After you have fueled your creative side, stop in and tell us about it this weekend. As you may know, this Sunday will mark the end of our annual Valentine's Sale!
Caroline Engel for Danish Teak Classics
This Weekend in MPLS
February 17th, 2012The annual Danish Teak Classics Valentine's Sale continues this weekend, ending February 26th. The guys in the shop have been working overtime to restore pieces over the past week, so stop in to see what's new! Discounts range from 15% – 50%, covering ceramics and lighting, to lounges and sofas, and everything in between.
DTC Hours:
Wed-Fri: 12:00 – 17:00
Sat: 11:00 – 17:00
Sun: 12:00 – 16:00
Also noteworthy, this Saturday, February 18th, is an Open Studios Saturday. Many studios throughout the Northrup King Building will be open to the public, with artists on hand to answer questions about their art, and of course, to sell some art. Check out the Northrup King Website to see a list of all participating studios.
Afterward, flowing in with a day of all things Danish and inspirational, head down to First Ave in Minneapolis to catch MuteMath and opening guest, Canon Blue. MuteMath was named VH1's "You Oughta Know" artist of November, due to their catchy, edgy sound that doesn't drowned out the melody. The American singer-song writer, Daniel James, is the man behind the sounds of Canon Blue. The Rumspringa album was written while touring with Danish indie-rock band, Efterklang, and was later recorded in their studio in Copenhagen. The light twinkling piano notes and strings play out an image of coasting through the streets of Copenhagen by bicycle. Very enjoyable, to say the least.
MUTEMATH – BLOOD PRESSURE (Official Music Video)
Caroline Engel for Danish Teak Classics
A Work in Progress
February 10th, 2012Throughout the exhibit, alongside the reproductions of some of Ralph Rapson's classic pieces, sat a chair in need of some TLC. This chair is a little different. Its design is a little heavier, less refined. One arm of the chair is made of two pieces of wood spiced together, without matching the grain. Could this chair possibly be one of the first prototypes Rapson made for Knoll in the early 1940s?
The chair was brought to us by the fellas at Rapson-Inc., who were contacted by the owner, Craig Rafferty, FAIA. While Ralph was working as the new head of curriculum at the New Bauhaus in Chicago, he began to experiment with furniture design. Because of the war, materials were scarce. Metal was nearly impossible to come by, and any wood procured was most likely scrap wood. School director, László Moholy-Nagy, the ever-optimist that he was, developed student courses for camouflage techniques and the exploration of materials and ways to substitute wood for metal. Though this model may date from period, the mismatching wooden arm piece is due to a quick fix repair a few years back. Hardwoods were reserved for the war effort, so the early models were built of birch. Today's models are now built of the stronger maple and walnut woods.
The chair is scheduled to be fully restored and recovered at Danish Teak Classics. The joints will need to be cleaned and strengthened with new glue and presses. The lacquer will be removed, the wood cleaned and polished to a soft touch, and then it will be re-lacquered to achieve the original finish. The upholstery could go one of two ways, depending on the client's choice. The original design for Knoll was offered with either cotton strapping or cushions covered in a durable, simple upholstery of bright, modern colors. Below are the pre-restoration photos, with more to follow of the restoration process and the final product. The second to last photo is one from Knoll in the mid-20th c, and the last is a Rapson-Inc. reproduction of the same chair. Enjoy!
Caroline Engel for Danish Teak Classics
The Votes Are in…
February 5th, 2012
and the winner is…
Ralph Rapson's 1951 lounge won the chair design contest with 60% of the vote. This dynamic chair was designed to be produced with a steel frame, wood stetchers and upholstery. Danish Teak Classics will now be moving forward, in collaboration with Toby Rapson, to produce prototypes of this Ralph Rapson design.
Which Rapson Chair Should We Build Next?
January 13th, 2012
Place your vote in the poll below! Contest ends February 2nd, 2012. The winning Rapson design will be put into limited production and sold by Danish Teak Classics.
Option number 1 features a steel frame, wooden cross stretchers and upholstered seat and back. Option number 2 was intended by Ralph to be made solely of bent wood. The third option is quite unique and features a plywood frame with upholstered seat and back.
RALPH RAPSON: Chair Design – the Architect’s Studio, Opening Reception + Release Event!
December 22nd, 2011
The event will feature both vintage and new Rapson rockers to view and test, as well as design sketches from the Ralph Rapson collection archives. Attendees will have the exciting opportunity to vote for the next Ralph Rapson chair design to be produced. All are welcome.
Rapson Bentwood Rocker http://www.danishteakclassics.com/products/rapson-bentwood-rocker/ | Rapson Greenbelt Rocker http://www.danishteakclassics.com/products/rapson-greenbelt-rocker/ | Highback Rapson Greenbelt Rocker http://www.danishteakclassics.com/products/highback-rapson-greenbelt-rocker/
Ralph Rapson – Part II: The Scandinavian Embassies
December 9th, 2011This past spring, while researching Sweden's mid-century approach to mass housing projects, I had no idea there was any connection with the most famous modernist architect of my home town Minneapolis, Ralph Rapson. As I walked the streets of Stockholm, unbeknownst to me, perched on a rocky hilltop in the Djurgarden district overlooking the city centre, still sits the 1955 US Embassy designed by Rapson and his former Chicago partner architect, John van der Meulen. Rapson was granted US Embassy commissions in Stockholm, Oslo, Copenhagen, and The Hague. When the pair reached Stockholm, they set up an office inside the well-established practice of architect Anders Tengbom. Several local architects from Copenhagen and Stockholm assisted on the projects, basically turning Rapson's designs into working drawings for the review boards and contractors.
With hardly any monetary or design limitations from the US government, Rapson designed at will, but met disapproval with the mighty overarching force of Sven Markelius, Stockholm's master urban planner. Markelius was the mind behind the 'ABC' cities – Arbete-Bostad-Centrum [Work-Housing-Center] that dotted along the high speed rail lines radiating out of the city "like pearls on a string". His planned cities were, and still are, regarded as some of the most successful modern solutions to mass housing shortages. With a city in crisis, Markelius was given the power and burden of alleviating the cities housing shortage and providing its citizens with comfortable, affordable housing on a very limited budget. Miraculously, he did accomplish this, and to my knowledge, his ABC cities are still well loved by their inhabitants today. By the time of Rapson's arrival, his opinion was not one to be reckoned with. Rapson noted that every building planned for the city required a room-size model to be studied judiciously by Markelius before any plans went forward. "Everything in Stockholm went through that man" noted Rapson, including a foreign embassy.
Markelius edited out details of Rapson's design that didn't meet his taste, such as the barrel vaults that had no special precedence in the Swedish architectural vocabulary. Markelius insisted the building must not tower over its surroundings, and Rapson's design was reduced from 6 stories to 3. Even with the strong personalities and differences in opinion, construction was underway in a matter of months. What came of it was a modern building with an American personality but a Swedish mind to function. The strong geometric forms spoke of the interior hierarchy and function, keeping the public services in the one-story wing wrapping around the central 3-story tower. Natural light filled the interior through the floor-to-ceiling windows and reflected off the polished granite sheathed walls. A dramatic main stair ran the full height of the building, showing dramatically through the expansive glass wall. As far as I know, the building still stands and is still in use by the US Embassy. Pictures of the building have been hard to come by, so if you have any on hand, please send them onward.
The site in Copenhagen was much more restrictive, requiring Rapson and van der Meulen to fit the embassy between two existing buildings along a historic square. Though a modern esthetic was approved, the design had to correspond with the adjacent cornice lines and the facade had to be set back 23 feet from the others as to not be too loud in the the cityscape. As Rapson said, he "sort of shoe-horned the thing into the site."
Though the building in Copenhagen caused much less commotion than that in Stockholm, reviews of the Stockholm embassy tended to be in favour of it, if begrudgingly. Sven Markelius reportedly wrote in 1954 after a thorough inspection, that it was "the best office building in Stockholm". The size and stark modernity was unsettling to many in a group of 350 Swedish artists and architects that toured the building, but many conceded that the trend in architecture was going that way, and it would be senseless to revert to earlier, less challenging styles. The structure was awarded the AIA First Honors Award in 1955. The US embassy in Copenhagen was awarded the Danish Medal for Good Design by the Danish government in the same year. Of course, not everyone liked it, some criticizing it for it's "melancholy undertaker's interiors", but on the whole, it were regarded as a success and some ventured to go as far as calling it "one of the most beautiful, functional buildings in Copenhagen."
For a full account of Rapson's work for US embassies abroad, reference The Architecture of Diplomacy: Building America's Embassies, by Jane C. Leoffler. [quotes are taken from p. 72-75]
Caroline Engel for Danish Teak Classics
Rapson-Inc. Exhibition
November 26th, 2011
Danish Teak Classics will soon be collaborating with Rapson-Inc. in an event to introduce a selection of Ralph Rapson lounge chairs being put back into production. Starting with the most famous and beloved designs, Rapson-Inc. has begun producing these thoughtfully-designed, modern pieces for the public once again. Rapson-Inc. originally began in 1950 while Ralph and Mary Rapson were living in Boston and Ralph was working as an architect and professor at MIT. At the time, there was a shortage of modern furniture on the market fit for Ralph's modern building designs. The couple worked collaboratively on the pieces, with Mary seeing to all the fine details, finances and promotion. Today, Rapson-Inc. remains in the family, now run by Toby Rapson, son and business partner at Rapson Architects of the late Ralph Rapson. Working with Ralph's design archive, the design team at Rapson Architects and master craftsman Jonathan Loeck, Rapson-Inc. has reproduced the Rapson Rocker first designed by Ralph at Cranbrook in 1939. We can't think of a better way to remember the man behind the designs than to reintroduce the public to his works, especially at a time when he has been receiving increasing notice as one of the foremost important American modernist architects.
Ralph Rapson had a prolific career, spending 70 years of his life shaping and defining American Modernism. His unique, clean, comic sketches caught the eye of Eliel Saarinen, the most influential early modernist architect in Finland, and landed Rapson a scholarship under his tutorial at Cranbrook Academy in Michigan. His class roster reads like a who's-who list of top mid-century modern designers: Eero Saarinen, Charles Eames, Henry Bertoia, and Florence Schust (Knoll). Rapson went on to work for the Saarinen's in their American firm, taught and studied at the New Bauhaus school in Chicago, designed the Case Study House 4 – the Rapson Greenbelt House, designed a line of furniture for Knoll in 1945, then opened his own furniture studio, Rapson-Inc. in 1950. Over his long, prosperous career, Rapson won many competitions and awards, including the 2007 Dwell Lounge competition at age 92. He also oversaw the redesign of his bentwood rocker, the first of his designs to be reintroduced in 2002.
Danish Teak Classics is proud to be a part of the reintroduction of this line of Rapson classics. Select Rapson chairs will be on show in the DTC showroom starting in January 2012. with a special opening event on December 29th. Please stop by to see these beautiful pieces by our own local iconic modernist architect, Ralph Rapson. Over the month of December, we will be highlighting different aspects or projects of Rapson's illustrious career, so be sure to check back.
Caroline Engel for Danish Teak Classics
à Paris nous allons!
November 24th, 2011While sharing a bottle of cava at a little Swedish bar near the harbor in Leith a few months ago, my friend Susan was reminiscing about the time she lived in Paris. Like me, she has a degree in art history and recently finished the MSc in architectural conservation. She talked about her favourite districts, the street venders, the coffee shops, the view from the Arch de Triomphe, the art galleries and the beautifully dressed women. After a few minutes, I decided we should just book tickets that night and go. Buzzing from the bubbly and excitement of adventure, we did just that. That was months ago and I cannot believe how the date has snuck up on me. Up to this point, I have not done any planning or research, but luckily, my creative, well-traveled flatmate Cameron has a copy of Graphic Europe: An Alternative Guide to 31 European Cities. Having never been to Paris, I'm sure I will want to visit some the typical tourist sites – Eiffel Tower, Sacre Coeur, Musée d'Orsay, etc – but this guide offers an altogether unique approach to tourism compared to the other guides. A graphic designer in each city was asked to suggest their favourite places to stay, to eat, to go, to see,to do. Each section has the individual graphic stamp of the designer, beautiful, tasteful and unique. Elamine Maecha's Paris begins with a foreword to introduce the reader to the truths and untruths of the city often held by outsiders. Maecha describes the city as an escargot – spiraling outward from the oldest districts in the centre. Arrondissements 18, 19, and 20, he says, have a mix of immigrant inhabitants and 'bobos' (bourgeois boheme) – architects, designers, lawyers and other intellects that have been priced out of other districts. For Maecha, the 18th not only offered cheap rent, but the mixture of people created a natural vibrancy, a fresh openness which bred creativity.
Maecha suggests bars and restaurants both for their food and atmosphere. In the shopping section, Galerie Dansk is listed first, featuring vintage mid-century Danish furniture. Maecha applauds it's immaculate layout and I hope to have a browse through their inventory. Also highlighted is the Librairie la Hune in the heart of Saint-Germain-des-Pres. Since opened in 1949, this bookshop has been a home away from home for such literary figures as Max Ernst, Henri Michaux and Andre Breton.
Next to the Musée d'Art Moderne, in what was a derelict Art Deco building, now sits the Palais de Tokyo. With no permanent collection, the gallery is unorthodox in its ability to experiment fully with temporary installations. As a huge fan of the new Guthrie Theatre by Jean Nouvel in Minneapolis, I am curious to see what he has done at the Fondation Cartier in Paris. In Maecha's opinion, the architecture is integral to its contents, merging into the surrounding Luxembourg Gardens while promoting contemporary art. The Galerie Magda Danysz is a trendy place all the aforementioned 'bobos' like to go. Near the Picasso Gallery, a strange gallery, Espace Topographie de l'Art, hosts exhibitions in a completely unmodernized old warehouse. Though I feel I should visit the Louvre, I feel these small quirky galleries will proffer a better glimpse into the modern creative currents running through Paris.
In many ways, Paris was the canvas for modern architects. It is here that the Baron von Haussmann implemented his image of wide, monolithic boulevards connecting the most important monuments and buildings of the city in the 19th century. His plans for Paris had a worldwide rippling effect on cities undergoing urban renewal for decades to come. Le Corbusier, arguably the most influential modern architect in the 20th century, built a number of modern structures within the boundaries of Paris, including the Villa la Roche, the Pavillion Suisse, the Villa Savoye and the Immeuble Molitor. Though it is most definitely impossible to see all the places I've talked about here, I'll write a follow-up review of the gems I am sure to come across in my own experience.
Caroline Engel for Danish Teak Classics