Product Description
Nigel Coates, Rare, Early and Iconic “Genie” stool 1988

NIGEL COATES (b. 1949) England
BRANSON COATES ARCHITECTURE London
“Genie” stool 1988
Carved and sandblasted solid ash seat on twisted mild steel legs
Marks: NIGEL COATES GENIE STOOL
Illustrated: 1000 chairs, Charlotte & Peter Fiell (Cologne: Taschen Verlag, 1997), p. 615.
H: 26: x D: 13 1/2″
Price: $9,500
British architect and designer. He studied at Nottingham University and the Architectural Association, London, where he graduated in 1974 and subsequently taught until 1989. In 1983 he formed the group NATO (Narrative Architecture Today) with a group of former students and began to practice independently; two years later he went into partnership with Doug Branson (b 1951). Coates became known for his fluid and lively graphic style and the overt theatricality of his designs. His proposals for the redevelopment of London, involving sophisticated allegories of popular culture, were shown in two exhibitions: ArkAlbion (1984), with drawings of new development areas such as County Hall and the Isle of Dogs, and Ecstacity (1992), with computer simulations and video clips. In the renovation (1980) of his own flat in London he juxtaposed the original, ornate late 19th-century interior with ‘found’ furniture and decorative objects. The publication of this project brought Coates to the attention of Japanese clients who were seeking fashionable Western designers, and he carried out several projects in Japan that became increasingly theatrical: in Tokyo the Metropole Restaurant (1985) evokes a European café, while the Parco Café Bongo (1986) juxtaposes classical English furniture with an imitation aeroplane wing mounted on the ceiling; and the Arca di Noè (1988), Sapporo, is an eclectic mixture of classical motifs and a concrete boat. Coates’s radical approach was dissipated in later British works, such as a series of London shops: one for Katharine Hamnett in Sloane Street (1988) has a shop front formed of aquaria, and one for Jigsaw in Knightsbridge (1992) has its shop front formed of a two-storey copper column in the shape of a phallus. In 1992 he began designing an extension to the Geffrye Museum, London.
Coates was an influential teacher at the Architectural Association from 78- 86, and has lectured extensively abroad. In 1995 he was appointed Professor of Architectural Design at the Royal College of Art and now divides his time equally between the college and his office. Nigel Coates furniture is represented in the Modern Furniture Collection of the Victoria & Albert Museum, London.
“I go for architecture that overlays and enhances. By blending observation and wit with reason, I want my work to generate a sense of the unexpected, and the seemingly spontaneous.”
Nigel Coates, Rare, Early and Iconic “Genie” stool 1988
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In the Style of JEAN-MICHEL FRANK (1895 – 1941) France
Pair of “Rodo” chairs 20th Century
Light ceruse oak with red Hermès sueded leather
For more information see: Jean-Michel Frank: The Strange and Subtle Luxury of the Parisian Haute-Monde in the Art Deco period, P.E. Martin-Vivier (Paris, 2006)
H: 32 1/2″
BAKALOWITS & SÖHNE (founded 1845 in Vienna)
“Starburst” chandelier c.1970’s
Crystal rods of varying lengths with nine lights,
chromium-plated metal ceiling cap and spherical chandelier parts.
Ceiling to drop length: 46 1/2″ x overall diameter: 33 1/2″
Price: $24,000
The Bakalowits Company was founded in Vienna, Austria in 1845 by Elias Bakalowits. After his son Ludwig joined the company, E. Bakalowits & Sons grew and became one of the foremost crystal chandelier manufacturers in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. In 1892 Ludwig Bakalowits received the order to manufacture the chandeliers for the Neue Hofburg Palace in Vienna for Emperor Franz Joseph I and was appointed Imperial and Royal Purveyor to the Court.
The company’s reputation for excellence grew outside Europe, and by 1885 the company was exporting its products to America and Asia. In 1900, Bakalowits & Sons displayed their crystal chandeliers at the World Exposition in Paris. Other exhibitions in St. Petersburg, London, Geneva and Turin followed and attracted more clients from around the world. In 1928, the company obtained patents for its crystal chandeliers. In 1955 Bakalowits was entrusted with the manufacture of new lighting fixtures for some of the Viennese buildings that had suffered damage during the Second World War. These included the Parliament, the State Opera House, the National theatre, City Hall, St. Stephan’s Cathedral, and others.
ARCHIBALD KNOX (1864-1933) UK
LIBERTY & CO. London
JAMES POWELL & SONS . WHITEFRIARS, UK
Serving dish c. 1902-1905
Pewter with floral entrelac in bas-relief and Powell green glass insert
Marks: 0163 (Tudric number), English Pewter, CONNELL 83 Cheapside London (retailer)
Illustrated: Archibald Knox, ed. by Stephen A. Martin (London: Academy Editions, 1995) p 97.
Related models illustrated: Archibald Knox, ed. Stephen A. Martin (London: Artmedia Press, 2001) p 208.
H: 2” x Handle to handle W: 7 ¼”
Spoon length: 6 3/8”
ARCHIBALD KNOX (1864-1933) UK
LIBERTY & CO. London
Tri-footed vase c.1902-05
Pewter with blue enamel
Marks: Liberty & Co., ENGLISH PEWTER, 0927
Model illustrated: Liberty’s 1875-1975, An Exhibition to mark the Firm’s Centenary (London: Victoria & Albert Museum, 1975) p. 76; The Liberty Style, introduction by Victor Arwas (NY: Rizzoli, 1979) cat. no. 36
H: 11 3/4”
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