Designer · Italy / USA · 1915–1978
Harry Bertoia
Harry Bertoia (1915–1978) – Italian-American sculptor and designer, creator of the Diamond armchair and Knoll’s collection of steel-wire seats.
We have no pieces designed by Harry Bertoia available right now.
New pieces arrive every week. See what we have offered before below, or browse the shop.
About the designer
- Lifetime
- 1915–1978
- Country
- Italy / USA
Harry Bertoia was born in 1915 in San Lorenzo in Friuli and emigrated to Detroit in 1930. From 1937, he studied at Cranbrook Academy of Art, where he later ran the metal workshop. In 1943, he moved to California and worked with Eames on furniture made of moulded plywood.
In 1950, at the invitation of Hans and Florence Knoll, he began working for Knoll Associates in his own studio in Pennsylvania. In 1952, Knoll introduced his collection of bent steel-wire seats, including the Diamond armchair and side chairs – pieces of furniture that remain among the most recognisable designs of American modernism.
Alongside this, he was a sculptor: he created monumental and sound sculptures, including works for Dulles Airport (1963) and Philadelphia (1967), as well as an altar screen for the MIT chapel designed by Eero Saarinen. He died in 1978 in Barto, Pennsylvania.
More designs from this period can be found in the Mid-Century Modern collection.
Key designs
-
Diamond armchair
Seat made of bent steel wire.
-
Collection of wire seats
Side chairs, armchairs and Bird Chair.
