A Pair of Brown 'Selene' Chairs by Vico Magistretti for Italian Artemide c.1970
"The Selene chair was designed in 1967 by Magistretti to be produced in a plastic material, as he affirmed: "The seat and the back are simple curved surfaces. For me, the legs represented the real image of the piece, with as small a volume as that of any common wooden chair. I solved it by exploiting the molding of a plastic material formed by a simple 3-millimeter-thick sheet with a simple but very resistant "S" cross-section which inter-related the object with ordinary chairs without however the elephant legs so untypical of chairs. It was fun working with the model maker on the wood model." When produced in series, "a unit comes out of the machine every five minutes": Selene is the fruit of a single compression molding process on a pre-impregnated sheet (Ottagono 15 / 1969). Magistretti solves the problem of leg resistance by adopting an "S-shaped" configuration that confers resistance to a sheet only 3 millimeters thick. The formal and structural solution had already been previously adopted for the Chimera lamp (a self-supporting methacrylate sheet) and in developing the legs of the Demetrio table, again in GRP. The Selene chair, an excellent example of discrete elegance and of the essential expressiveness of the use of new technologies, became an international success over the following decades from America to Japan, also in the pastel colors typical of the Post-Modern period."
Both chairs are in very good condition with all original feet. One small chip on backrest, minor scratch on seating and one scratch mark on one of the legs.
Dimensions
Height - 75cm
Width - 47cm
Depth - 45cm
For more great finds follow us on socials @hoxton.antiques
Collection E5. Delivery available in London & the rest of UK for an additional fee.
A Pair of Brown 'Selene' Chairs by Vico Magistretti for Italian Artemide c.1970
"The Selene chair was designed in 1967 by Magistretti to be produced in a plastic material, as he affirmed: "The seat and the back are simple curved surfaces. For me, the legs represented the real image of the piece, with as small a volume as that of any common wooden chair. I solved it by exploiting the molding of a plastic material formed by a simple 3-millimeter-thick sheet with a simple but very resistant "S" cross-section which inter-related the object with ordinary chairs without however the elephant legs so untypical of chairs. It was fun working with the model maker on the wood model." When produced in series, "a unit comes out of the machine every five minutes": Selene is the fruit of a single compression molding process on a pre-impregnated sheet (Ottagono 15 / 1969). Magistretti solves the problem of leg resistance by adopting an "S-shaped" configuration that confers resistance to a sheet only 3 millimeters thick. The formal and structural solution had already been previously adopted for the Chimera lamp (a self-supporting methacrylate sheet) and in developing the legs of the Demetrio table, again in GRP. The Selene chair, an excellent example of discrete elegance and of the essential expressiveness of the use of new technologies, became an international success over the following decades from America to Japan, also in the pastel colors typical of the Post-Modern period."
Both chairs are in very good condition with all original feet. One small chip on backrest, minor scratch on seating and one scratch mark on one of the legs.
Dimensions
Height - 75cm
Width - 47cm
Depth - 45cm
For more great finds follow us on socials @hoxton.antiques
Collection E5. Delivery available in London & the rest of UK for an additional fee.
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