CategoriesFurniture and Lighting
Furniture
The movable objects people sit, sleep, eat, work and store things on, made by joiners, cabinetmakers, designers and factories.
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About
Several European languages name furniture as movables: meubles in French, Möbel in German. The oldest surviving pieces come from ancient Egyptian tombs, where chairs, beds and chests were buried for use in the afterlife. Chinese makers of the Ming dynasty refined joined hardwood furniture held together by joinery rather than nails, and in many societies people lived mainly with cushions, carpets and low platforms rather than chairs and tables.
In Europe the chest came first, followed by cupboards, chairs and specialised pieces for writing, dressing and display. Industrial methods arrived with bentwood in the 19th century, and the 20th century added tubular steel, moulded plywood and plastics, used by designers from Charles and Ray Eames to Eero Aarnio, while craftsmen like George Nakashima and Wendell Castle kept wood alive. To read an old piece, look at its joints, secondary woods, tool marks and wear.
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