Harry Bertoia 1915 - 1978

Harry Bertoia's approach to design was born of an intense, lifelong awareness and study of nature. He is perhaps best known for his sculptures; and indeed his chairs are quintiscentially sculptural; artworks designed to support the human body.

Opening his own metal workshop in 1939 he taught jewelry design and metal work. Later, as the war effort made metal a rare and very expensive commodity he began to focus his efforts on jewelry making, even designing and creating a wedding ring for Charles and Ray Eames . Later in 1943, he was to work with Charles and Ray for the Evans Product Company, where they experimented on molded-plywood seating.

In 1950, he established a studio in Pennsylvania where he designed his famous "Diamond chair" a fluid, sculptural form made from a moulded lattice work of welded steel. Success was immediate and in the mid-50's the royalties he received for these chairs allowed him to devote himself exclusively to sculpture.