{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O1265378"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1265378/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2013GP9591/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2013GP9591/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"low","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2013GP9591","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2013GP9592","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2013GP9593","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2013GP9594","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2013GP9596","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2013GP9595","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":null},"record":{"systemNumber":"O1265378","accessionNumber":"W.12-2013","objectType":"Chair","titles":[{"title":"3L/C ","type":"assigned by artist"}],"summaryDescription":"This model 3/LC chair was designed for Laverne Originals, a mid-20th century new York interior design company, generally commercial in character, and producer of wallpapers, fabrics and furniture. An example of this chair, alongside a 4 legged side chair, as well as a related 'cocktail table' and dining table were featured in the Museum of Modern Art's 1953 Good Design exhibition, part of an influential series of exhibitions which also toured to different parts of the world. These exhibitions lent great prestige to the objects exhibited at a time when design exhibitions were relatively rare\r\n\r\nThe chair has three legs of chrome steel, connected by a T-shaped stretcher in black enamelled steel.  The single rear leg rises to full back height, is joined  to a cross-piece (resulting in another T shape) and  from this is hung a leather sling seat and back, which  is also attached to what are, effectively, seat rails.  The architectural nature of the chair and its roots in classic, pre-war modernism were implicitly described by its designers in a sales brochure: \"We believe that architecture conditions the equipment it contains... We sought furniture that would work within a way of building, which would not complement or compete but in a sense continue the program of lines and planes and function as structural elements of the whole.\" In 1952 it was given the furniture award of the American Institute of Decorators (now the American Society of Interior Designers) and was chosen by architect Eero Saarinen for his General Motors Technical Centre (1949-1956), an important and well known building at the time.\r\n\r\nIn 1954, the Merchandise Mart of Chicago, the sponsor of MoMA's Good Design series, celebrated the fifth anniversary of the Good Design show with a retrospective in their wholesale exhibition halls. This exhibition featured 200 products from previous exhibitions: 100 products chosen by a committee from MoMA for their excellence of design, and 100 popular sellers. The latter were garnered from a survey via Retailing Daily of manufacturers who had had two or more products in previous Good Design shows. This chair (the design rather than this example) was one of the 100 items exhibited in this second section.\r\n\r\nIn 1988 the design was re-commissioned by the Italian manufacturer, Cadsana, and is still in production today. The current example, however, is an original from 1950, fabricated by the subcontracted manufacturers, Gratz Industries, in Manhattan and in the possession of Mr Kelley since that time.\r\n\r\nThe partnership of Katavolos, Littell and Kelley was established in 1950, shortly after the three graduated from the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York, where they had studied industrial design. They designed the 57th Street showroom for Laverne, which a 1952 issue of Interior magazine, quoted in the New York Times (Salkaln, 2004), described as a 'piece of sculpture... too pure to support any mundane transactions like selling'. They also created, for Laverne Originals, a range of wallpapers, fabrics and furniture.\r\n","physicalDescription":"3/LC chair with three legs of chrome steel, with a T-shaped stretcher in enamelled black steel. The rear leg rises to full back height with a cross-piece, to form another T shape from which hangs a leather sling seat and back.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Kelley, Douglas (Mr)","id":"AUTH325920"},"association":{"text":"designer","id":"AAT25190"},"note":""},{"name":{"text":"Katavolos, William (Mr)","id":"AUTH330905"},"association":{"text":"designers","id":"AAT25190"},"note":""},{"name":{"text":"Littell, Ross (Mr)","id":"AUTH330906"},"association":{"text":"designers","id":"AAT25190"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[{"name":{"text":"Laverne Originals","id":"AUTH330907"},"association":{"text":"designers","id":"AAT25190"},"note":"The chair was commissioned for Laverne Originals studio."},{"name":{"text":"Gratz Industries","id":"AUTH330909"},"association":{"text":"manufacturers","id":"AAT25230"},"note":""}],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"steel","id":"AAT133751"},{"text":"enamel","id":"AAT147678"},{"text":"leather","id":"AAT11845"}],"techniques":[{"text":"chrome plating","id":"x41580"},{"text":"enamelling","id":"AAT53773"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Chrome-plated and enamelled steel, leather","categories":[{"text":"Furniture","id":"THES48948"},{"text":"Leather","id":"THES49030"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"FWK","id":"THES48597"},"images":["2013GP9591","2013GP9592","2013GP9593","2013GP9594","2013GP9596","2013GP9595"],"imageResolution":"low","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"001","id":"THES342199"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"chair","id":"AAT37772"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"New York (City)","id":"x29030"},"association":{"text":"manufactured","id":"x29350"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1950","earliest":"1950-01-01","latest":"1950-12-31"},"association":{"text":"manufactured","id":"x29350"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Given by Mr Douglas Kelley","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"80.5","unit":"cm","qualifier":"total","date":{"text":"18/02/2016","earliest":"2016-02-18","latest":"2016-02-18"},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Height","value":"45.5","unit":"cm","qualifier":"to seat","date":{"text":"18/02/2016","earliest":"2016-02-18","latest":"2016-02-18"},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Height","value":"28.2","unit":"cm","qualifier":"bottom","date":{"text":"18/02/2016","earliest":"2016-02-18","latest":"2016-02-18"},"part":"floor to bracing bar","note":""},{"dimension":"Height","value":"33","unit":"cm","qualifier":"top","date":{"text":"18/02/2016","earliest":"2016-02-18","latest":"2016-02-18"},"part":"floor to bracing bar","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"55","unit":"cm","qualifier":"to outside of tubing","date":{"text":"18/02/2016","earliest":"2016-02-18","latest":"2016-02-18"},"part":"front legs","note":""},{"dimension":"Depth","value":"53","unit":"cm","qualifier":"to outside of tubing","date":{"text":"18/02/2016","earliest":"2016-02-18","latest":"2016-02-18"},"part":"front to back leg","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"52.5","unit":"cm","qualifier":"to outside edge","date":{"text":"18/02/2016","earliest":"2016-02-18","latest":"2016-02-18"},"part":"seat","note":""},{"dimension":"Depth","value":"60","unit":"cm","qualifier":"approx","date":{"text":"18/02/2016","earliest":"2016-02-18","latest":"2016-02-18"},"part":"seat","note":""},{"dimension":"Diameter","value":"2","unit":"cm","qualifier":"approx","date":{"text":"18/02/2016","earliest":"2016-02-18","latest":"2016-02-18"},"part":"tubing","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"This particular chair was owned and donated by one of the designers, Douglas Kelley. The design was featured in the MoMA's Good Design show of 1953.","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Chrome-plated steel, enameled steel and leather 3/LC side chair","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Eidelberg, M. P. and Johnson, P. 2001. Design 1935-1965. New York: Harry N. Abrams."}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"Mass produced","id":"THES48863"},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["W.12-2013"],"accessionNumberNum":"12","accessionNumberPrefix":"W","accessionYear":2013,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2026-01-09","recordCreationDate":"2013-06-26","availableToBook":true}}