Julie Abner | Designer, Abner Interiors
This Hans Wegner Wishbone chair’s timelessness and versatility appealed to designer Julie Abner. She remembers being at Niche, the former store and office space downtown, inspecting another item for a client when she spotted the chair and pulled it aside for herself.
“This piece appeals to me because of its functionality and beauty in any interior space,” she says. The Wishbone, designed in 1949 for Carl Hansen & Søn, has been in continuous production since it was first introduced in 1950. The chair’s back and armrest are created from a single piece of wood. The seat, woven from roughly 120 meters of paper cord, takes about an hour to make.
Says Abner: “It can really work anywhere: as a desk chair, a dining chair, really anywhere you need a comfortable chair.” She gave hers “a place of honor in the front entryway.”
Illustration by Pete Sucheski
Jimmy Jamieson | Designer, Jamieson Design Associates
Jimmy Jamieson, owner and principal at Jamieson Design Associates, is a collector of African sculpture. That passion is what drew him to the work of Christian Astuguevieille, whose furniture Jamieson describes as “highly sculptural and inspired by traditional African and Oceanic art. He takes these pieces of furniture and then develops these very organic sculptural forms and covers them in hemp.”
For years, Jamieson has used Astuguevieille’s pieces in his own work, but it was close to 30 years ago that he ordered a commode for himself. It took two years to build. Now, he says, he has several pieces by the French designer. “They are without a doubt the most highly commented on pieces of furniture that I own,” says Jamieson. “They’re sort of out of this world.”
Illustration by Pete Sucheski
Susan Bower | Architect, Bower Leet Architects
The Tre Pezzi (three pieces) chair, designed by Franco Albini and Franca Helg in 1959, is Bower’s favorite piece of furniture. She says she and her husband, architect Stephen Leet, were in Milan the first time they spotted the chair in the Albini studio. “We acquired the chair then and have prized it ever since,” Bower recalls. Leet has written two books about the studio and designed an exhibit, shown in New York and Chicago, featuring the coveted piece of furniture.
“The design is engaging and playful,” says Bower. “It’s comfortable and has great back and head support. It’s a striking functional sculpture.” The couple’s chair features red upholstery and a gray frame. In addition to appreciating the genius of the design, Bower has a personal connection to it: “I first sat in the chair when I was pregnant, and I didn’t want to get out of it. It was so comforting.”
