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[DREAMS OF NEW SOVIET FURNITURE] Photobook. Mebel’ dlia zhilykh zdanii, predstavlennaia na Vtoroi Vserossiiskii konkurs 1961 g. i rekomendovannaia k massovomu proizvodstvu [i.e. Furniture for Living Buildings Submitted to the Second All-Russian Competition of 1961 and Recommended for Mass Production]

Item #1785

[Moscow], 1962. 39 leaves of direct positive paper. 24x20,5 cm. In original screwpost binding with blank logo of organization on front cover. Traces of paper glued to back cover, slightly rubbed, fading stains on three leaves, minor lower corner of title page lost.

The edition was released by the Central Furniture Design Bureau (TsMKB), one of the two located in Moscow. It was established by order of the Ministry of Forest Industry of the USSR dated June 15, 1946. Later it was renamed several times. From the late 1950s, the era of khrushchevkas began in the Soviet Union – it was low-cost, concrete-paneled or brick buildings with small apartments. They had to solve the housing problem on a huge scale, quickly and economically. Opportunely, Soviet designers created furniture that had never been seen in the USSR before – light modular sets for an apartment. Сombined furniture haв been discussed: secretaries, a bed that can be stored in a built-in wardrobe, sofas and armchairs that turn into beds. Cabinet furniture was supposed to be sectional, prefabricated or shelved. The designers were going to make extensive use of new industrial technologies and materials – metal, bent plywood, laminated plastic. Consumers could have gotten a fundamentally different furniture – domestic instead of imported, light instead of bulky and cheaper from contemporary materials instead of expensive one from solid wood.

In 1958, the first All-Union competition for furniture designers was announced. Individual authors didn't participate in it, only organizations were accepted. They had to compete in three categories: to create complete sets of furniture for the whole apartment, sets for the kitchen and sets of built-in wardrobes. The jury considered 104 applications from Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan. 19 projects were recommended for mass production. Technical drawings of the recommended samples were sent to factories with the obligation to master the production. In some cities, development did begin, but the competitive models didn’t reach stores. Some designs were severely changed and released in that way.

New furniture involved working with new materials and advanced technologies. Soviet industry wasn’t ready for this because there was no necessary equipment. But more importantly, it was unprofitable for the Soviet furniture industry. Factories reported about sums of production not quantity of items. Thus, the best developments from the first All-Union competition for furniture designers largely remained good intentions. Several events have been organized similar to this competition and gradually furniture production began to change. Technical drawings of the projects were handed over to organizers – initially, the Academy of Construction of the USSR, then the Central Furniture Design Bureau – and this enterprise created photobooks of the samples. Released in small print runs, such editions were sent to factories. Nevertheless, models published in photobooks like this one made up a third of the furniture actually produced.

Not found in Worldcat.

Price: $950.00