Magnus Englund
Abstract
The Isokon Furniture Company was never commercially successful, yet its legacy has stubbornly refused to die and disappear. Even today, this radical collection of plywood furniture is manufactured and used. The main reason is of course the names associated with it: Jack Pritchard, Wells Coates, Marcel Breuer, Walter Gropius, László Moholy-Nagy and – more recently – Edward Barber & Jay Osgerby. The genius little Isokon Penguin Donkey, first designed by the Austrian émigré architect Egon Riss in 1939 and marketed by publisher Allen Lane’s then new imprint Penguin Books, is particularly popular with younger generations of design students.
Keywords
Modern Movement,
Modern architecture,
Isokon furniture,
Plywood furniture,
Furniture modern design,
Lawn Road Flats,
Bauhaus.
Issue 58
Year 2018
Pages 82-85
DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.52200/58.A.KY5UAJ0P