MODERN TRENDS IN FURNITURE

Press, Volume XCI, Issue 27664, 21 May 1955, Page 8

MODERN TRENDS IN FURNITURE

GREAT INTEREST IN LOCAL EXHIBITION SIMPLICITY AND COMFORT KEYNOTE OF DESIGN For a generation brought up on a daily diet of atomic explosions, rising crime waves and falling French Cabinets, there is considerable comfort in the knowledge that progress does not necessarily have imminent disaster as its sinister shadow. Science has done much more than provoke international crises, and nowhere can its contribution be more readily appreciated than in the home. The space ship of the future could hardly look more strange to the present-day world than the modern home to the housewife of the Victorian era. Gone are the bric-a-brac, the aspidistras, and the rich clusters of grapes on the wallpapers. Simplicity and comfort are the keynotes of modem house designing; a spacious elegance has been won at the expense of piano tops covered with faqing photographs, and settees which, from theft weight and dimensions, might have been designed as scrum machmes for All Black packs. . . Modem trends in furniture designing are shown most adequately in an exhibition of contemporary furniture, based on the latest American, English and Swedish designs, now being held by a leading Christchurch firm. In most modem houses, it is regarded as essential to have one large lounge room, and bedrooms have become smaller than they were 20 years ago, but tJjey still demand plenty of windows and drawer space. At the exhibition there are some notable examples of bedroom furniture. A handsome English-style bed has a book case, with neatly sliding doors, as the bed head. Many pieces of bedroom furniture in the exhibition have glass tops to protect the polished surfaces, and one bed, done in a most attractive light wood, has book-cases extending each side of the bed head. There are rubber and inner spring mattresses with heating units installed in the mattress, and the sort of tempting foam-rubber vanity stools which ihvite 200 instead of the statutory 100 strokes of the hair brush.

The dining room furniture at the exhibition, like the other items, shows changes from recent trends, but they are not by any means revolutionary designs, and are in fact little more than an extension of modern developments. In some pieces in the exhibition there is a beautiful blending of light ash and dark mahogany, so serviceable but attractive that they offer a distinct temptation to discard one’s furniture to start all over again. It is no longer necessary for the housewife to have the attributes of an all-in wrestler before being able to manage a draw-leaf table. Those at the exhibition have their leaves contained neatly beneath the middle of the table. Chairs and buffets have padded exteriors of similarly-coloured plastics, extremely easy to clean of the prints of small inquiring fingers. One of the most attractive single items in the exhibition is a cocktail cabinet, smaller than those made in recent times, with sliding plate glass doors a plate > glass shelf and a mirror at the back of the lower section, a mirror on the serving lid, and two sliding doors behind it covering storage space. A three-piece corner bookcase, with the units available separately, has sliding glass doors and the book-shelf sections tapering back to give a smart and modern appearance without loss of room. There is a standard lamp, severe in design, but almost the perfection in utility. It has arms which allow the reader to adjust the light vertically or horizontally without effort—its movements suggest the dentist’s drill, or perhaps more accurately a light above a drawing board. The armchairs on display are almost sinfully comfortable, and their only real fault is that they induce a disinclination to leave them. They no longer have uselessly bulky arms, and their foam rubber seats are the last word in comfort. There are settees consisting of four separate chairs—a departure from convention, but a welcome one. In many of the chairs, Italian rubber webbing reinforced with nylon thread is used for the backs and seats, which are detachable for easy cleaning or re-covering. The old jute webbing and cone-type springs beneath flax and flock, look like a creation of Emmett compared with the new rubber webbing or tension springs. A single spring out of place often used to cause anything from discomfort to domestic upheavel, but in the unlikely event of a minor failure in the new type, replacement is a matter of seconds. The exhibition is being staged by Messrs T. Cocks and Sons, 76 Victoria street, who have designed every piece from overseas patterns and made it in their own factory. It will continue until June 6. From the interest shown by the public in this handsome and varied collection of furniture to grace the modern home, the months of preparation required have been very znucH worth-while.—P3A.