All the Gaudi Chairs

ANTONI GAUDI FURNITURE DESIGN

During the Modernisme times (late 1800’s – early 1900’s), it wasn’t unusual that architects would design themselves certain pieces of the furniture that would go inside their buildings, even if for the rest of the furnishings they’d use the services of the very best carpenters and craftsmen. Often the furniture made by the architects would be shaped to remind you of the outside of the building. 

Antoni Gaudi was a prolific furniture designer, even if this side of his career stays often in the shade of the spectacularism of his architecture. He designed cabinets, dressers, a variety of objects for religious use including altars, and of course, tables and many different types of seats: chairs, chaise-longues, sofas… In today’s post we’ll be focusing on Gaudi chairs.

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Gaudi chairs for Casa Calvet

Casa Calvet was Antoni Gaudi’s first apartment building, built in 1902. Located on Casp street, the building continues to be a private property closed to visitors, except for the street level where there’s a restaurant. Gaudi designed the furnishings of both the main floor where the Calvet family lived, and the street level that housed the offices of the textile business run by the Calvet.

For those offices Gaudi designed a furniture collection that included a variety of seats made of oaktree wood. They were elegant and had some geometric decoration inspired in nature, as the Calvet family were amateur naturalists. The furniture collection included a chair, a chair with arm rests, a bench and a stool with a low back rest, and were destined to the offices of the family business located on the street level of the house.

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