GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Steelcase, designer and manufacturer of workplace furnishings and solutions, and the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation have launched the Frank Lloyd Wright Rockford and Galesburg collections by Steelcase, expanding the organizations’ collaboration.
The new collections reintroduce Frank Lloyd Wright’s iconic pieces and reinterpret his mid-century, Usonian-style designs into fine modern furniture for the home and workplace. The furnishings use readily available materials such as wood, glass, concrete and plywood.
“We were struck by the humanism, materiality and novel construction of Wright’s designs from this time; they are so honest and simple, while still demanding incredibly sophisticated feats of structure and geometry,” said Meghan Dean, general manager of ancillary merchandising and partnerships at Steelcase. “We’re proud to bring Wright’s philosophy forward with our newest collections of Usonian-inspired furniture for the home and workplace, advancing his vision to make great design available to everyone.”
The Rockford collection, inspired by the Laurent house, the 1952 home Wright designed for veteran Kenneth Laurent and his wife Phyllis in Rockford, Ill., includes the reintroduction of a rail-backed lounge chair and a grouping of companion pieces including polygonal plywood tables and movable seating.
The Galesburg collection is reimagined and inspired by built-in banquettes from various Usonian homes in Wright-designed Parkwyn Village and The Acres communities around Galesburg, Mich. The collection features Wright’s three-dimensional shapes that turn corners. Steelcase designers used Wright’s earlier drawings of a tuxedo-style sofa, created for one of the first designer furniture collections available to the general public. Other pieces include sectional and lounge chair.
Steelcase and Frank Lloyd Wright’s collaboration began 80 years ago when Steelcase produced the original furniture for Wright’s design of one of the first open-plan office spaces, the SC Johnson Administration Building in Racine, Wis. In early 2023, Steelcase and the Foundation unveiled the Frank Lloyd Wright Racine Collection by Steelcase, which reintroduced the desk and chair Wright designed for SC Johnson and launched modern versions that reinterpret the original line of furniture.
The Rockford and Galesburg collections, as well as the Racine collection, are available for purchase in North America at Steelcase.com/FrankLloydWright.
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