Sideboard by William Watting
This big sideboard in teak was designed by William Watting and produced by Fristho in Franeker in Holland during the 1950’s. The teak body is finished with brass corners and dito legs. Green felt inlay for cutlery in the top two drawers. There’s some using marks on two of the drawers and on the brass, patinated edges but further this rather rare model is in good condition. Maker’s label present on the inside.
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Dimensions:
W: 245 cm
D: 43 cm
H: 77 cm
Weight: approx. 50 kilo
Material: teak, brass
William Watting (1900-1973) was an American furniture designer. He was born in Boston, Massachusetts but after WW II he moved to Denmark. Fristho was founded in 1921 in Huizum (The Netherlands), the Friesche Stoel- en Houtwarenfabriek. In 1924 the company moved to Franeker. Fristho soon found itself at the forefront of furniture design and design.. In 1945, the eponymous son of the founder became director of Fristho: Arnould Jean Baptist Merckx (1912-2006).
Merckx had a vision that was internationally inspired and he recognized the potential of Scandinavian and especially Danish design at an early stage. In the mid-1950s, the Danish-American designer William Watting designed the first ‘mid century modern’ furniture for Fristho, under the series name ‘modern art’. This series sparked Frishto’s new direction in furniture with Scandinavian influences. The Danish influence was reinforced around 1960 by the recruitment of the Danish designer Inger Klingenberg. Around 1960, Fristho’s international orientation was at its peak and the brand made it to the absolute top 5 of Dutch furniture design companies, represented from Milan upto Los Angeles.
Throughout the 1950s and ‘60s, Fristho became very successful producing a wide range of modernist furniture – spanning sideboards, wall units, coffee tables, and dining tables – that became representative of postwar European design. The oil crisis in the late 1970’s however put an hard end to the growth and finally forced Fristho to close it’s doors. The numerous modern designs the firm produced are still sought after pieces for nowadays’ design afficionada.
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