NEW DESIGNS IN FURNITURE.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18014, 26 November 1926, Page 13

NEW DESIGNS IN FURNITURE.

UNJUST CRITICISM. PROCESS OF ADAPTATION. The furniture designers and craftsmen of the present day have been severely criticised for fading to produce something new that could take its place among the ranks of famous period styles. It has been suggested that we are content to reproduce copies of the old styde and that we have ceased to attempt the evolution of something new. This criticism is unjust from three distinct points of view. The first, and perhaps least important point, is that a new twentieth century style has already been conceived and is being taken up by an increasing number of designers. A much more important argument against the justice of such an argument lies in the fact that, no design has. ever been produced on a sudden inspiration. Not the great Chippendale or Sheraton, or any of the earlier designers of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries could claim to have produced a new furniture style without reference to the designs that had gone before. Each of the great furniture designers has taken the work of his predecessors, retained that which he considered good, rejected all that seemed to him bad, and added details of his own conception—thus producing a style which has been handed down to future generations under his Own name or that of his period. It is hardly fair to expect our modern designers to do that which our forefathers have not been able to do. The only assthetic sin that the twentieth century has committed lies in the fact that it has taken the work of its predecessors and has adaped it to meet the needs of the present day. This clever adaptation is the third and most potent argument against the criticism. Designers have, following the practice of every previous furniture designer, adapted the period styles and added, details of their own in such a manner that they have to all intents and purposes evolved a completely new style. One or two instances in which this has been done may serve to bring home the point more clearly. In reproducing furniture of the Jacobean and Elizabethan type, which had a large amount, of the most intricate and small carving, it was seen that the twentieth century housowife had not the time in which to dust and clean such work. It was, therefore, decided t.o eliminate all carving except that which was necessary to retain the atmosphere of the pieces. The allegorical carvings were, therefore, taken away, and only the lozenge-shaped designs of Jacobean days, the spiral twists of the Charles 11. days, and the arcaded carving were left. This plan, while keeping the severe and manly' spirit of the furniture, eliminated unnecessary and tiresome cleaning. Again, the understretchers of sideboards and court cupboards of the seventeenth century were flush with the ground. When reproductions of these pieces were made it was seen that this feature would render it impossible for the housewife to sweep underneath the furniture. The under-stretcher was. for that reason, lifted up three or four inches and in. some instances removed altogether. The same applies to the modem reproductions of refectory and trestle tables.

A still more interesting example lies in the designing of the top of the modem wardrobe. In most of the eighteenth century poeces the top of the wardrobe jutted out slightly into the room, coming about three inches outside the level of the door. This projection formed on the top a hollow’ space, about two inches deep, in which collected dust and dirt. The unhygienic and work-involving qualities of these wardrobe tops were seen by modern designers, with the result that the receding cornice was used. This means that, whereas the top used to be hollow. with a ledge jutting outwards, the top was now made to incline inwards slightly, and the whole top was boarded in. Thus when cleaning was necessary a fiat surface presented itself arid saved an enormous amount of labour. In connection with mirrors, also, the work of adaptation lias been cleverly conceived. Such ornate gilt pieces as Chippendale designed, with their multitudinous and intricate carvings of birds and foliage, have given place to plainer, simpler and more refined types, with plain bevelled edges and a total lack of carving. In such wavs have our twentieth century furniture designers taken the work of their predecessors and adapted it to our present-day uses. Surely this is far more commendable than to attempt some new idea with disastrous results.

Rubber as a floor-covering has now passed the experimental stage and may be bought with confidence. One of the best and most, satisfactory forms of rubber floor-covering is in the shape of tiles and is put down in just the same way' by any ordinary bricklayer. These tiles are so made that they cannot creep, but remain perfectly rigid in their places. They are delightful to walk upon and are very' clean aud economical in use. Don't stay out in the cold waiting for something to haopen—-get iu and start it! H

USEFUL OTTOMANS. Box ottr'man?, suitable for bedroom* and nurseries, can be made eaetly by anyone handy with tooJs. It is necessary to buy two boxen—sugar boxes are a useful size—-two hinges, four castor* boarding long and wide enough to form a lid for the boxes when they are together. cretonne and fiocks. Cut down the boxes if thev are preferred shallow, nail or screw them to one another, and screw the hinges to the lid and ottoman. Place on the lid flocks to a depth of about two inches, and tack or pin (drawing pins will do) calico tightly over them, taking care that they remain evenly spread. The calico must come under the lid and corners be fitted neatly. Paint the ledges at the tops of the boxa*» line the boxes themselves with iaiiry thick plain coloured paper. Cut a strip of cretonne long enough to go round the ottoman, allowing a two-inch turning on the length and a three-inch one on the width, and several strips of cardboard one inch wide. Lay one of these strips along the top of the cretonne, on the wrong 6idc, after a turning has been made, and place it against the top of one side of the ottoman, at a back corner, with the inch of cretonne between it and the ottoman. The material will fall over the card right side outward. Fasten the cretonne to the ottoman by tanks driven through the card, but not through the cretonne, which is to fall over it. Continue the cretonne round the Ottoman in this manner, cutting through the card at each corner so that the angles will be neat, and keeping the top of the card-level with the top of the ottoman. Turn in the raw edge and sew the two ends of cretonne, together. This method of box-covering ensures evenness. Tack the cretonne under the box and screw on the castors. Cover the lid i and fasten with small brass tacks a plain piece of material across the inside. It is advisable to fix t*h»s first with drawing pins, beginning at the left-hand comers and stretching the material to the right-hand ones; the pins should not be taken out until all the tacks have been driven home. An ottoman of this class, lined and covered with “ oiled ” or waterproof cloth, and without, padding, is particularly useful in a bathroom, as it will hold cleaning materials and clothg. THE “RATTERIE DE CUISINE.” Some of the most attractive objects offered just now at the Paris shops are the much varied families of cook-ing-pots. Brass and cx>pp«r. tin-lined and beautifully polished, are among ♦he most attractive, but they are dear, they take much cleaning, and they have to be looked after in the interests of safety. The French housewife to-day prefers either aluminium .or enamel. Enamel is taking precedence this year, largely because of the influence of the decorative arts. It is matched up to the colouring of the kitchen. Where there is a white wallpaper with a scarlet check, scarlet enamel cooking pots are bought to go with it, and the fittings of the electric light also in the same colouring. Enamel cracks, but while it lasts it is easy to keep clean. The good metal pots—which is to say the aluminium pots—are made in very attractive shapes, also designed in the interests of cleanliness. They bulge out a little downwards, and have comfortable wooden handles, or handles made of white non-conducting material, which looks like ivory. The handles often begin with the metal, go on with a lougish piece of wood, and end up with a metal tip, an arrangement whicn makes them look very smart when they are hung up in a row above the cooking stovd. Aluminium has only two disadvantages, one being that it cannot be washed with soda and the other that its lightness is often overbalanced by the handle. The French “ batterie de cuisine ” is extensive, ranging from the big pot to one so small as just to contain an egg. It is nearly always complete, for the French housewife is artistic as well as utilitarian and regards it as the principal ornament of her kitchen. FOR THE SINK. To the inexperienced washer-up the right position for the sink basket is always a difficult problem. Left in the corner of the sink bottom, it has a way of filling up and flooding its carefully strained contents into the sink. Placed across the comer of the sink, at the top. it takes everj* opportunity of capsizing and tipping its unattractive contents into anything soaking in the sink below. The three-cornered sink basket has remained in its same form year after year, and onlv recently has an improvement been made. This clever but perfectly simple invention is merely a wire frame with feet into which the sink basket drops. On the floor of the sink the feet keep the basket sufficiently elevated to enable it t.o carry out its purpose of draining, whilst, fixed at the top of the sink* it holds the basket firmly and avoids accidents. It frequently happen that, something about the house is broken which need* a piece of metal and one or two screws to make a strong join. Hitherto the difficulty has been to obtain anything which could be used for this particular purpose, but now pieces of thin metal, of different sixes and shapes, are sold on a card, and may be bought separately or in a set.