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The Art in "State of the Art"
You might call it style, industrial design, fashion, product packaging or even art; but it has to do with what something looks like. The appliances and pieces of furniture shown here were designed to look different or new so they would stand out. Anybody can have a sofa or a chair. But how many times do you see a sofa that looks like a giant pair of red lips, or a chair that is a giant baseball glove? What do you think of a television set that looks like a space helmet, or a can opener that looks like a lunar lander? Whether or not you like the way these things look, one thing is for sure: they do look very different! |
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Marilyn Monroe sofa
It's lips! Bright red lips with lipstick on them to be more exact. Do you think anyone could not notice this sofa if it were in your living room? Gufram of Italy manufactured this Marilyn lips sofa, which was named for 1950s-60s film star Marilyn Monroe. |
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Baseball Glove "Joe" chair
This giant, leather, baseball-glove chair, first made in 1971, was named for famous 1950s-'60s baseball player Joe DiMaggio, who was married to Marilyn Monroe. Italian designers Jonathan De Pas, Donato D'Urbino and Paolo Lomazzi were inspired by the oversized, out-of-context soft sculptures of artist Claes Oldenburg. |
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Eames rocking chair
Molded body-curved plastic? Why shouldn't a chair "fit" the person sitting in it? Furniture design was changed permanently in the 1940s when architect Charles Eames (1907-1978) and his wife, painter Ray Eames, began exploring furniture in the modern home as freestanding sculpture. This chair was meant to be comfortable, too. |
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Ball or globe chair
How comfortable do you think it would be to curl up in this chair? In the 1960s, designer Eero Aarnio (1932-) broke away from traditional forms of seating and created space-age forms in the Pop style, like this "Ball" or "Globe" chair, first manufactured by Asko Finnternational of Finland around 1966. Unlike many pop-culture furnishings, Aarnio's high-quality chairs employed state-of-the-art manufacturing technology and were designed to last. |
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Philco Predicta television set
When this TV was made in 1958, they were trying to predict the future and so called it "Predicta." The swiveling screen may make it look modern, but it still used the tubes and technology of the 1950s to work. These frequently broke down, and were more difficult to repair than a conventional TV set of the 1950s and 60s. The sets may not have been very popular when new, but today they are very collectible. |
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JVC "space helmet" TV
Made in the early 1970s, this TV is shaped much like a space helmet. How often do you see a ball-shaped TV? Can you find any furniture shaped like a ball in this exhibit? |
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Swing-A-Way electric can opener
You might think of a lunar lander or a spider when you see this. Made in the late 1950s, this can opener's funny appearance actually made it lighter and therefore easier to move or carry. |
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"Ericofon" telephone
Most old telephones had a main body with its dial and a handset for talking and listening. Dials were used before push buttons. This futuristic phone from the 1950s put the dial in the base of the handset, and was the first telephone to be housed in one single piece. Today, with our cell phones, we might not realize how new or revolutionary this phone was for its day. Why didn't it catch on? |
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"Sculptura" phone
The imaginative design makes this phone look like a loop or donut when the handset (receiver) is hung up.
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