Name: Design Museum Gent
Price range: $

Closed for expansion and renovations

54
Deck chair and ottoman from the ‘Etcetera’ series
Jan Ekselius ^SE
J.O. Carlsson ^SE
1970-1972
steel, textile
loan
Koninklijke Musea voor Kunst en Geschiedenis

55
Molar Settee
Wendell Castle ^US
Northern Plastics ^US
1969
glass-fibre reinforced polyester
collection Design Museum Gent

56
Chair for Shop Defauw
Gaston Eysselinck ^BE
1936
wood, polyvinyl chloride
collection Design Museum Gent

Gaston Eysselinck (1907-1953) is the best-known modernist from Ghent. Around 1935, he renovated a jewellery store run by his parents-in-law in the Mageleinstraat. As part of this, he designed, among other things, this chair with round seat. The shop ensemble contrasted with the radical tubular steel furniture from Eysselinck’s previous years. In 1931-1932, he had designed furniture for his own home and some of that can be seen here (and in Object Stories). He wanted to commercialise them under the name FRATSTA (Fabriek voor RATionele STAalmeubelen, in English the Factory for Rational Steel Furniture), but that was not a success. Warmer, wooden furniture became once more popular, inspired in part by the Finnish designer Alvar Aalto.