Harry Bertoia lived from 1915-1978 in Italy and the US. Born in Italy, he came to the States in 1930 and studied at the Art School of the Society of Arts and Crafts in Detroit. After receiving a scholarship and studying at Cranbrook Academy of Art in 1937, he stayed at Cranbrook to teach metalwork fom 1938-1943. Due to metal shortages of the war, the metal shop closed, and Bertoia taught graphic art during the years 1942-43. He then moved to California and worked briefly with Charles and Ray Eames designing furniture (1943-46), and he felt his contributions to the development of bent plywood chairs were largely unrecognized.

In 1943 he married Brigetta Valentiner, daughter of the director of the Detroit Institute of Arts, and in 1946 he became a US citizen. After California, he took an offer to work with Hans and Florence Knoll in Pennsylvania in Knoll's small factory developing metal furniture and assisting with other Knoll products.

There are several versions of his famous wire chairs, designed in the 1950s... They were conceived first and last as functional sculputres, visually transparent shapes floating in space, a network of small diamond patterns within a large diamond shape: the bird chair (38" wide x 34" deep x 39" high) with a high back and on rubber bumpers with ottoman... the diamond chair (34" wide x 28" deep x 30" high) which is not on rubber bumpers.... a wider version which is on rubber bumpers and is called a "wide diamond" chair 44" wide x 34" deep x 28" high).... barstools... and side chairs without arms.... he also made small versions of side chairs for children. There were various types of fabric covers which were optional and hooked onto the frame... full covers of Knoll fabric, bikini covers for the seat part only, shiny vinyl covers, etc. Each chair was hand made in the factory.

He designed other items as well, such as a spherical wooden coffee service 1937-43. Made of pewter and stained wood, the bodies of the pieces are circular and the spout is rectangular, and the design was influenced by the French designer Jean Puiforcat.

From 1938-43, while at the Cranbrook Academy of Art in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, Bertoia also was a designer of jewelry in organic, whimsical designs similar to those by Alexander Calder, with whom he exhibited some works. A characteristic of his jewelry was hand forged metal jointed by rivets, or separate pieces fused together.

He was also a designer of prints, paintings, and sculptures, but did not design any more furniture.

sources: Fifties Furniture by Leslie Pina; Design 1935-1965 What Modern Was, edited by Martin Eidelberg

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Click here for biographical profiles of other designers