Sitzmaschine (nº607) – 12 Remarkable Solid Wood Chairs – vol.2

Sitzmaschine (nº607) – Josef Hoffmann – c.1905

Sitzmaschinne (machine for sitting) rear side view (photo: quittenbaum auctions)

The austrian architect Josef Hoffmann was one of the leaders of the Wiener Werkstätte, and his model 607 was designed for the Purkersdorf Sanatorium in Vienna, one of the first relevant projects that he and his group were commissioned. The “total design” concept was used and developed on the project, each component of the building from its facade until the furniture were carefully designed by the group.

Wiener Werkstätte letterhead with flower motif by Koloman Moser. (image obtained in: theviennasecession)

Decades before Le Corbusier started to advertise his “Machine for living in” concept in his Manifesto, Hoffmann was already concerned about designing a piece with a exposed structure and a rational simplification of the composition elements, and also a celebration of the machine culture, something that will underline most of the movements of the early 20th century.

Reclined Sitzmaschine (photo: designmuseum)

One source of inspiration for the chair can be identified in the Morris Chair, designed by Philp Webb, from the English collaborative Arts and Crafts, which clarifies the influence of this movement in the Vienna Secession. The main  influence, however, was functional: the recliner system, but in aesthetic terms Hoffmann’s chair is way far more unique.

An upholstered Sitzmaschine (photo: Archiproducts)

Like an old-school race car cockpit, or Dick Dastardly Wacky Races’ car the chair emulates an aerodinamic machine ready to full its gears and run wild, in an allegorical machine cult. Pure, ma non troppo, there are several ornaments at the chair body: it brings at its arms and back, clear Mackintosh inspired geometrical cuts and in the foot, unions and recliner system, wooden spheres like the dots often encarved in legs and arms of XIX century furniture. A statement of the modern thoughts mixed with some residual old influence make this chair a important chapter of this turning point period of art and design.

Sitzmaschinne details (photo: quittenbaum auctions)

Built in bent beechwood and sycamore panels, the chair is amongst the collections of  the main designs museums, from Vitra to MoMA . Josef Hoffmann would never guess, but a vintage 607 chair, can today, reach dozens of thousands euros in auctions allover Europe. That is what we can call a timeless worth design.

Vitra miniature Sitzmaschine, yes you can! (image from: Vitra)

External links:

MoMa