Sometimes a beautiful design is changed or covered over and just waiting to be re-discovered under layers of paint and grime. A piece might not even seem like it would need much work, but appearances are deceptive. In this restoration project, to bring back the “soul of the object,” Ahti Toplaan goes through meticulous cutting, soaking, veneer, bending wood, gluing, and staining.
As Toplaan describes the restored furniture piece, “The stool was initially manufactured by the Luther Factory and Venesta Plywood Company for Isokon. The stools were created as part of the interior design of the exclusive dining club Isobar in the modernist apartment building, Lawn Road Flats, later known as Isokon Flats and Isokon Building. The interior of the Isobar was created by the designer Marcel Breuer. The stools were sold from 1933. Exceptionally light, only 1.1kg and surprisingly strong stools were originally produced in Tallinn, at the AS A. M. Luther (abbr. Luther, Luterma) Factory and the distributor was the company Venesta in London, which back then had the exclusive rights to market the Luther Factory's products in the British Empire…
… Venesta and Isokon collaboration in projects and product developments led to Luther Factory establishing relationships with leading contemporary architects and designers, in addition to Marcel Breuer, also Walter Gropius and Le Corbusier.”
Watch the transformation below as industrial history is painstakingly salvaged and restored to its former glory.
