George C. Mulhauser
I have always seen the Mulhauser name attached to some Plycraft pieces and didn't know anything (due to poor research on my part) about George Mulhauser...indeed he was a very talented designer who loved making people's lives better through design. His son, Paul, wrote a lovely tribute in this Pratt alum magazine:
To his credit George never assumed the ‘Mr. Chair’ name. His satisfaction was in the work rather than the pursuit of personal recognition. His thrill came from every next creation. His work ethic was contagious... for his work was his play... the two becoming intertwined and synonymous. Working out of his home, this infectious ethic was inevitably influencial, as it was assimilated by a next generation of entraprenurial siblings. All of whom would enter creative fields.
Also, I found this regarding Mulhauser's coconut chair on a bio of George Nelson:
George Nelson realized early on that successful people always get help from the best in their field. George Nelson Associates, Inc. had a lot of design talent during it's glory days. Designers who worked for the office included Irving Harper (more about this genius below), George Mulhauser (very much believed to be the designer of the Coconut Chair), Robert Brownjohn (worked to create movie sets including James Bond's Goldfinger), Gordon Chadwick, Bill Renwick, Suzanne Sekey, Ernest Farmer, Tobias O'Mara, George Tscherney (responsible for Herman Miller advertisements), Lance Wyman, John Pile.
Mulhauser's coconut chairI found these while searching for Mulhauser online:
I love this crazy rocker! Has anyone ever seen the likes of this chair before?Look at the similarities between the curlicue-design above by Mulhauser and the chair below, currently listed on Ebay:
2 comments:
Hi, I have 2 millhauser/plycraft chairs, one an obvious "Eames" knockoff, but the other is so wild, no one I have ever asked has seen it. It's like Eames, but the entire back is one solid piece and the upper wings larger than the lower like the Arne Jacobsen "Ant" chair. I collected chair and ottomen free on garbage day a few years ago. They had been done in a hidious brown velour-- hopefully not original. Right now they are done in black vynal, and I am saving to eventually do them in leather poney skin. (Black and white cow). The other is in it's original black leather. Since learning of Millhauser, I have been looking at prolific but lesser known designers (and archetects) of the era, thinking, you know, that we know only a fraction of the stuff out there.
I need to speak to George Mulhauser
I have worked with Paul many times and he always mentioned you.
I have original Rockwell Chairs
4 of them that I want to sell.
Can you help me.
Dr.Jeff Rovell
516 220 2558 cell
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