Greene and Greene and Swedish tradition

Re: Greene and Greene and Swedish tradition

Pam Niedermayer - Austin, TX

>Can't offer any info about Swedish practices, but Drew Langsner (Country Workshops) may be able to put you in touch with some Swedes.

There are many different ways of making good drawers. For example, the Japanese normally don't use dovetails, instead pinning the sides with bamboo sticks.

Pam

Re: Greene and Greene and Swedish tradition

ThomD

>Tage Frid had an article in FWW 09 where he dovetailed a door jam, I think he was pretty sold on them as a functional detail. There was also an excellent drawer article on the adjoining page by Alan Marks, showing Karl Malstem of Swedish fame's, six preferred drawer building structures, all of which are dovetailed. Krenov went to some Swedish cabinetmaking school, maybe Malstem's and is known for his dovetail work. At the cheap end, my parents had Swedish and Danish furniture bought back in the 50s, and it was dovetailed at the front and finger jointed (they failed) on the back.

The nailed drawers we had in the kitchen, never came apart.

Re: Greene and Greene and Swedish tradition

ted Wong

>Yeah Krenov was part of the Malmsten tradition. And legend has it one of the Greene brothers spent some time there too.

Re: Greene and Greene and Swedish tradition

James Watriss

>-I don't know much about the swedish tradition part. From what I've seen and read so far, most of their stying cues actually come from Chinese furniture, not swedish.

-Greene and Greene were the designers, not the builders. They were classically trained as architects, and so it makes sense that they spent some time figuring out how to put things together. But they did not actually build the furniture they designed.

-Not every design element is actually structurally functional. It's been shown through X-rays that in some cases, the ebony "pins" you see on the chairs, are not actually pins, and in some cases, aren't even placed over an actual tenon. Some are also covering screws.

I think it's very likely that they had a very keen eye towards design elements that would lend themselves to production. Among other things, that may very well mean that not everythign is classically built, ie with traditional joinery. And when it came time to build the pieces, they may very well have left some of the actual points of construction up to the builder.

John and Peter Hall, or Peter and John

Bill Houghton, STILL raining, Sebastopol, CA

>seems to depend on the author, built the furniture the Greene brothers designed. I've read just a bit, but my impression is that the Hall brothers were competent builders and joiners before they hooked up with the Greene brothers, and that they were pretty important in the actual joinery.

Re: Greene and Greene and Swedish tradition

Bruce Branson

>At the school that Green and Green went to in St. Louis to learn architecture they had to build furniture and not just draw it unlike some others whose builders would have to redesign parts so it would not fall apart.McIntosh in Scotland's chairs come to mind.

Another thought, from vague memory

Bill Houghton, raining and raining, Sebastopol, CA

>If I recall correctly, the Halls were Swedish, so this may be the link.

My local library had more than three Greene and Greene books, now on order (thanks for bringing this up, as it inspired me to search the online catalog); I suspect that yours may, too, to let you follow up this question.