Harry Bertoia
(1915-1978)
Birthplace
Italy
Italian sculptor,
university lecturer and furniture designer Harry Bertoia displayed
a unique stroke of genius with his patented Diamond Chair for Knoll
International in 1952. Bertoia was an inventor of form and an
enricher of furniture design with his introduction of a new
material: he turned industrial wire rods into a design icon.
Educated at Detroit Technical High School, the Detroit School of
Arts and Crafts and Cranbrook Academy of Art in Bloomfield Hills,
Michigan, Bertoia taught metal crafts at Cranbrook. He worked with
Charles Eames to develop his signature molded plywood chairs. Eero
Saarinen commissioned him to design a metal sculptured screen for
the General Motors Technical Center in Detroit. His awards include
the craftsmanship medal from the American Institute of Architects,
as well as AIA’s Gold Medal.
