Part A) Prologue – Deciding on a work

            To begin my
search, I looked at the liveauctioneers website; however, there were many works
I consider to work from books, music boxes, and pens. The lack of information behind the
creator’s work prevented me from selecting it. Eventually, I have selected the
Pair Mid Century Modern Italian Arm Chair by Zanuso from the Mid Century Modern
Furniture Style (Include Image from link).1 The lounge chair presented
on the liveauctioneers website is the 720 Lady lounge chair which is
actually
a renovation from the Lady, original lounge chair Marco Zanuso designed.  

 

Part
B) Marco Zanuso’s
Background (I) & 1951 Lady’s Transition to 720 Lady in 2015 (II)

I) Marco Zanuso (1916-2001)

Website:
The New York Time | Marco Zanuso, 85, Innovative Designer2

v  Known for
his elegant, practicality designs that led Italy a world leader in design
(Emphasize on it)

v  Born in Milan on May 14, 1916 and serve in the navy in
WWII 

v  Received his Architecture degree from the Milan
Polytechnic in 1939

v  Opened
his own design office in 1945, then become editor of two design magazine: Domus
and Casablla

 

Website:
Cassina | Marco Zanuso  3

v Architect,
designer, and one of the leading interpreters of the Modern Movement

v Was
awarded the Medaglia d’oro and the Gran Premio at the Milan Triennale on a
number of occasions (VIII, IX, X, XI and XIII editions)

v  Won five Compassi d’Oro between 1956 and 1985

 

Website:
Design Within Reach | | Marco Zanuso  4

v  In 1948, the company Arflex commissioned Zanuso to
design its first furniture models using foam-rubber upholstery

v  Early experiments with bent metal led to the Anthropos
Chair in 1949, then “the elegant Lady lounge chair,
which took First Prize at the 1951 Milan Triennial”

 

II) Work: Lady Chair 1951
(original)  

Website: 1stdibs | “Senior”
Lady Chairs by Marco Zanuso (1951) very rare early examples with wood frames 5

v
Style: Mid-Century
Modern

v
Date of Manufacture: 1951,
Italy

v
Company of Manufacture:
Arflex

v
Period: 1950-1959

v
Signed with the early
original fabric Arflex labels

v
Materials: Brass,  Rubber, Wood, Wool.

v
Dimensions: 39.37 in. Hx29.92
in. Wx34.45inD.

v
Seat Height: 16.14 in. (41
cm)

 

 

According to the
1stdibs website, the following image above is the early and rare production of lady
(which is restored) for the company Arflex in 1951 which is indicated by the handmade
wood frames. The lounge chairs were considered to be a supplement to each other: larger
‘senior’ chair on the right as the big brother to match the elegant and
beautiful lady on the left. I wonder if lady was originally intended to be a
half of the whole product, in other words, lady and senior together make the
idea. Foam rubber became so much in demand in later furniture due to the
material being able to be shaped for comfort and still be visually aesthetic.

 

 

 

720 Lady Lounge chair (Contemporary)

Website: Architonic | 720
Lady by Cassina 6

v  Product: 720 Lady Family: 720
Lady

v  Manufacturer: Cassina   

v  Country: Italy

v  Launched: 2015

v  Collection: Cassina’s Everest collection.

 

 

Transition from Lady to 720 Lady:

In 1951, Lady was considered an “icon of modernity” which led to
the creation of the modern lounge chair. Zanuso approaches the design of the
original Lady with the separate manufacture and assembly of the parts than the
traditional way of creating lounge chair on its head.

            Equation: The car
industry’s design method (similar to Ford’s Assembly Line) & new materials
(foam rubber and springs) = Lady

 

The following image is the 720 Lady lounge chair manufactured with
new company Cassina in 2015, not with the original manufacturer Arflex, which
is the more contemporary renovation of Lady with new fabrics designed by Raf Simons
(Belgian fashion designer).

Equation:  Lady + Raf Simons’ renovation with the fabric
= 720 Lady

 

Part
C) Challenges,
then Monetary and cultural value of the Lady

Challenges:

v  The information about 720 Lady and
Marco Zanuso is more abundance to find than Zanuso’s Lady itself despite its’
well-known and pioneering status.   

v  Unfortunately, I could not find
Lady’s original price when it was on the market, so I need to based 720 Lady’s
monetary and cultural value on Zanuso’s status as one of the leading designers
in Modern Movement

v  Too much “authentic” knockoffs
which is 720 Lady, and also, the original Lady is claimed to sold out.  

Monetary Value: Commercial Design & Culture
Value

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

v  The lowest price for the 720 Lady
is $2,670 and the highest price for now is $28,650.55

To
be frank, the prices feel surreal, however, Lady’s status of an elegant design
that influenced modern lounge chair does have a factor with the price.

 

 Website: Art Demystified: What Determines an
Artwork’s Value? Why are some works so expensive?7

            Price of the artwork is determined
by two factors with many branches leading to it: 1) The Artist’s status and 2) Supply
and Demand.

 The first factor, the artist’s status, is
divided into many other factors, both big and small, which includes the artist’s
background, education, reputation, sale history (if any), and contribution. The
second factor, supply and demand, may not play a large factor, however, this is
more claiming this is the “authentic” product, then selling many knock off
version.  

 

Marco
Zanuso

v  Status: One of the leading designers
for the Modern Movement, won many awards, opening his own architect’s office, a
university professor, and many more.

v  Work: Lady which revolutionizes
rubber as a contemporary material and design itself, and many other projects

In
conclusion, Zanuso status exceed beyond the norm which play a majority of
determining the price of the 720 Lady and the minority is renovation price. His
legendary status also established the large cultural aspect due to his many accomplishments
in the design and architect field.     

1 https://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/58822350_pair-mid-century-modern-italian-arm-chairs-zanuso

 

2 http://www.nytimes.com/2001/07/19/arts/marco-zanuso-85-innovative-designer.html

 

3 https://www.cassina.com/en/designer/marco-zanuso

4 http://www.dwr.com/designer-marco-zanuso?lang=en_US

 

5 https://www.1stdibs.com/furniture/seating/lounge-chairs/senior-chairs-marco-zanuso-1951very-rare-early-examples-wood-frames/id-f_4069883/

 

6 https://www.architonic.com/en/product/cassina-720-lady/1310013

 

7 https://news.artnet.com/market/art-demystified-artworks-value-533990