{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O1812242"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1812242/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2026PL6461/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2026PL6461/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"low","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2026PL6461","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":null},"record":{"systemNumber":"O1812242","accessionNumber":"E.1000-2025","objectType":"Blueprint","titles":[{"title":"Ottoman","type":""}],"summaryDescription":"Frank Lloyd Wright (1867–1959) is widely viewed as the foremost American architect of the 20th century, designing more than a thousand buildings during his career, including their accompanying interiors and furnishings. The Kaufmann Office, one of the most important twentieth-century objects in the V&amp;A’s collections (W.9:1 to 240-1974), was designed by Wright between 1935–37 as a private office for prominent businessman Edgar J. Kaufmann (1885 – 1995) for his Pittsburgh department store. After meeting him in 1934, Kaufmann became a significant patron of Wright's work, demonstrating his confidence most notably by commissioning Fallingwater (1935), a residence often considered to be the architect's masterpiece.\r\n\nThe Kaufmann Office is a rectangular room made entirely of swamp cypress plywood panels (240 in total) – its size and layout dictated by the then recently-adopted American standard plywood board size of 8 feet by 4 feet. Wright was known for his interest in, and exploration of new materials. In the design of the office, he demonstrated his love for plywood by using it across the entire room. Covering the floor, walls and ceiling, he elevated the humble material to a luxurious finish. Wright also used plywood decoratively to create a spectacular abstract mural as a focal point for the room. He believed that decoration should be 'of the surface', integrated into the wall rather than applied to it. Such structural ornamentation was an important element in his philosophy of ‘organic architecture’, first published in 1908.\r\n\r\nThese blueprints would have been made from the original drawings for the Kaufmann office now owned jointly by the Museum of Modern Art, New York, and Avery Library, Columbia University (Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation Archives: Project 3704). They would have been created during the design stages of the office by Frank Lloyd Wright to send to the client and also to Wright’s onsite carpenter, Manuel J. Sandoval, who with his assistants built the office. The blueprints show the large plywood relief mural, a design drawing for the armchair, along with general room plans and elevations.","physicalDescription":"Architectural blueprint","artistMakerPerson":[],"artistMakerOrganisations":[{"name":{"text":"Frank Lloyd Wright Office","id":"AUTH411506"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28674"},"note":""}],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"paper","id":"x30308"}],"techniques":[{"text":"cyanotype","id":"AAT53260"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Blueprint on paper","categories":[{"text":"Designs","id":"THES48968"},{"text":"Architecture","id":"THES48993"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"PDP","id":"THES48595"},"images":["2026PL6461"],"imageResolution":"low","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"LVLD","id":"THES49658"},"free":"","case":"DR","shelf":"209","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Blueprint","id":"AAT28499"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Pittsburgh","id":"x35137"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1935-1937","earliest":"1935-01-01","latest":"1937-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[{"object":{"text":"W.9:1-1974","id":"O69452"},"association":"Group"},{"object":{"text":"W.40-1974","id":"O112068"},"association":"Group"},{"object":{"text":"W.41-1974","id":"O112073"},"association":"Group"},{"object":{"text":"W.42-1974","id":"O112074"},"association":"Group"},{"object":{"text":"W.43-1974","id":"O112075"},"association":"Group"},{"object":{"text":"W.45-1974","id":"O112076"},"association":"Group"},{"object":{"text":"W.46-1974","id":"O112077"},"association":"Group"},{"object":{"text":"W.47-1974","id":"O112078"},"association":"Group"},{"object":{"text":"W.48-1974","id":"O112079"},"association":"Group"},{"object":{"text":"W.49-1974","id":"O112081"},"association":"Group"},{"object":{"text":"E.997-2025","id":"O1812239"},"association":""},{"object":{"text":"E.998-2025","id":"O1812240"},"association":""},{"object":{"text":"E.999-2025","id":"O1812241"},"association":""},{"object":{"text":"E.1001-2025","id":"O1812243"},"association":""},{"object":{"text":"E.1002-2025","id":"O1812244"},"association":""}],"creditLine":"","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"57","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":"Taken from auction house website"},{"dimension":"Width","value":"92","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":"Taken from Auction House website"}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"These blueprints were originally owned by Edgar J. Kaufmann. Thence by descent to Edgar J. Kaufmann Jr. and after his death to his life-partner Paul Mayen. They entered a private collection after being sold through Driscoll Babcock Galleries, New York.","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Blueprint for the office of Edgar J. Kaufmann, Pittsburgh by Frank Lloyd Wright, 1935-37. Ottoman","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Wilk, Christopher, <i>Frank Lloyd Wright: the Kaufmann Office</i> (London: V&amp;A Publishing, 1993)"}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[{"text":"Frank Lloyd Wright","id":"A1419"}],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["E.1000-2025"],"accessionNumberNum":"1000","accessionNumberPrefix":"E","accessionYear":2025,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2026-05-22","recordCreationDate":"2025-11-17","availableToBook":false}}