The George Nelson's Studio Most Iconic Object: The Marshmallow Sofa
Written by Mark Jennings Saturday, 11 June 2011 08:09
Within the many objects that the mid-century era produced, the Marshmallow sofa designed by the George Nelson's office in the 50s is definitely one of the most iconic.
From the moment the Marshmallow appeared, the dust-gathering massive sofas that decorated many of the contemporary American living rooms immediately appeared as old-fashion compared to its light, colorful design and easy to clean surface.
Looking backwards to other objects like the George Nelson's Ball Wall Clock (1947) or the Charles and Ray Eames's Hang-lt-All Coat Rack (1953), the Marshmallow seemed to be, starting from his name, part of a path that led -more or less a decade later- to the design Pop era.
Contrarily to what many people think, the Marshmallow was not designed by George Nelson in himself but by one of the members of his office: Irving Harper staff designer from almost two decades and George Nelson Associates. Like many mid-century designers, also Harper was interested in exploring the potentials of the new biomorphic and organic design style that already Charles Eames, Eero Saarinen, Alvar Aalto, Finn Juhl and many others were experimenting. Harper realized that the post war technologies and new materials available create a new style that -despite his scepticism about the 'stylization' of the modern machine-age aesthetic- he had accept and cope with.
The main Harper's concerns during the design process, were the outline and the light weight of the sofa, despite this the Marhsmallow was designed to fit in different kind of environments from public spaces to bourgeois living rooms.
The interchangeable cushions, the variety of available colours and sizes made it highly customizable but, at the same time, caused a labour-intensive production system.
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