Griffin's Oak Desk Chair

• Modernism / Modernist - Modernist furniture and design emerged in the early to mid-20th century as a response to traditional styles of the 19th century and prior times, and a reflection of the technological and social changes of the time. Characteristics of Modernist furniture and design include simplicity and minimalism and clean lines and a lack of unnecessary ornamentation are key features. That form follows function is a fundamental principle of Modernist design, and furniture and objects are designed with a focus on their practical use.
  
  Modernist furniture often incorporates geometric shapes, such as cubes, rectangles, and circles. This reflects a departure from the more ornate and curvilinear forms of previous design styles. The furniture often prioritizes ergonomic design, ensuring that objects are comfortable and user-friendly. Modernist designers aimed to create designs that could be mass-produced, making good design accessible to a broader population.
  
  Prominent figures associated with Modernist furniture and object design include designers such as Hans Wegner, Verner Panton, Florence Knoll, Harry Bertoia and Ettore Sottsass
• Provenance - A term used to describe the provable history of an antique or work of art, and thus an additional aid to verifying its authenticity. Provenance can have an inflating effect on the price of an item, particularly if the provenance relates to the early settlement of Australia, a famous person, or royalty. Less significant are previous sales of the item through an auction house or dealer.
• Oak - Native to Europe and England, oak has been used for joinery, furniture and building since the beginning of the medieval civilisation. It is a pale yellow in colour when freshly cut and darkens with age to a mid brown colour.
  
  Oak as a furniture timber was superceded by walnut in the 17th century, and in the 18th century by mahogany,
  
  Semi-fossilised bog oak is black in colour, and is found in peat bogs where the trees have fallen and been preserved from decay by the bog. It is used for jewellery and small carved trinkets.
  
  Pollard oak is taken from an oak that has been regularly pollarded, that is the upper branches have been removed at the top of the trunk, result that new branches would appear, and over time the top would become ball-like. . When harvested and sawn, the timber displays a continuous surface of knotty circles. The timber was scarce and expensive and was used in more expensive pieces of furniture in the Regency and Victorian periods.

This item has been included into following indexes:

• chairs, singles / pairs / threes, style or period
  • desk 288
  • kauri timber 223
  • library 288
  • office 288
• chairs, singles / pairs / threes, timber - oak 488
• Griffin, Walter Burley (Australia) - furniture, designers and makers 20