Rare Desk Chair by Ward Bennett

This chair has a bentwood frame, cane back, with a seat in the original Brickel fabric. Ward Bennett was a wonderful, enormously influential of furniture, houses and interiors. His style was one of a sensual minimalism executed with elegance and a dash of industrial bravado creating a contemporary, understated luxury. I read this by Susan Brandabur (Auction Central News) “his furniture and objects have a subtlety of line and richness of materials that give them a timeless presence. The Banker Series for Brickel from 1980 is a good encapsulation of Bennett’s style and is one of the series most admired by interior designers. The curving lines evoke a traditional design, but the pieces are very simple and pared down to a modernist minimum.

And from his obituary in the Times (2003) “Mr. Bennett represented a distinctly American look as it gained confidence in the face of more dominant European styles. His belief in a sensual minimalism executed with elegance and a dash of industrial bravado — a rubber base on a cocktail table — have had a lasting impact on … contemporary, understated luxury.”