Designer · Czechoslovakia · 1903–1978
Jindřich Halabala
Jindřich Halabala (1903–1978) – Czech architect and furniture designer, key figure at UP Závody, designer of armchair H-269 and tubular steel furniture.
Pair of armchairs, designed by J. Halabala, Czechoslovakia, 1940s
About the designer
- Lifetime
- 1903–1978
- Country
- Czechoslovakia
- Manufacturers
- UP Zavody
Jindřich Halabala was born in 1903 in Koryčany in Moravia. He learned cabinetmaking in his father's workshop and then studied at the forestry school in Valašské Meziříčí. He studied at the Prague School of Arts and Crafts (Uměleckoprůmyslová škola) in the studio of architect Pavel Janák.
In the 1920s and 1930s, he became associated with Spojené UP závody in Brno, one of the largest and most progressive furniture factories in Czechoslovakia. He managed the company's Prague showroom and later its design and development department; together with director Vladimír Mareček, he decided on new models. The UP programme was based on good-quality, affordable series-produced furniture, sold in showrooms with furnished interiors.
Halabala designed bentwood furniture, including armchair H-269 (1933), as well as tubular steel furniture, such as chair H-79; in UP's tubular furniture, he gradually replaced borrowed designs with his own. After the war, these included secretary desk J-105 (1946) and the “Pavouk” table. His designs combine functionalism with the tradition of Czech craftsmanship. He died in 1978. His work is documented in a monograph by Dagmar Koudelková, published for the centenary of the designer's birth.
You can find more Czechoslovak design in the Made in Czechoslovakia collection.
Key designs
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Armchair H-269
Bentwood armchair.
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Chair H-79
Chair in tubular steel.
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Secretary desk J-105
Solid wood, walnut veneer.
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“Pavouk” table
One of Halabala’s most characteristic designs.
