mundus / thonet / kohn

ted and i took the egyptian disco fabric off the new/old chair and found nothing special (i.e. nothing clean) underneath. we're not even certain that the seat is original. if it is, the chair would seem less old than the manufacturer's mark suggests (pre-1914). covering the wooden base and the horse hair padding was a dirty yellow, texturized, plastic (?) coated upholstery. for the meantime, we just tacked a bit of canvas over it.

but here's all of what we've found out, starting with the maker's mark:














what you see is the name "mundus" stamped inside the rim of the seat. i love the eastern european art deco lettering -- jugendstil, or youth style, if i remember (and guess) correctly. (check out the "d".) i also love the name, mundus. (this is also if i remember correctly, now dredging up dr. howe's old english.) mundus is latin for world, from which we speakers of contemporary english get "mundane," meaning "of this world" -- opposed to the world of the sacred from which come other things, though presumeably not this chair.

as to the company that produced the chair, it was very much of this (well, its) world.

in 1856 the thonet brothers (Gebruder Thonet) patented their process for making bentwood furniture which involved wetting, steaming, and forcing wood into iron casts to dry. they let the patent go in 1869 by which time a number of other companies were already making and improving on the bentwood process (and disputing their patent), most famously the father and son team Jacob and Josef Kohn. in 1914 Kohn merged with Mundus. in 1923 (or 28) Kohn-Mundus merged with Thonet, and the conglomerate company is still making furniture. somewhat like the Bauhaus, and Target, the companies teamed up with famous architects and designers to provide stylish furniture to the middle-class -- we of this world.

because there are no other marks on the chair, i'm guessing it's older than 1914. other people writing in with queries on the web have mentioned dual marks, j. j. kohn and mundus for example, but there's nothing else on ours except "made in poland" (krakow, most likely, where several of these companies had factories). it's possible a paper stamp might have come off, but i found no evidence that one had ever been there.

of all the Austrian bentwood furniture makers of the period, i've found out the least about Mundus. it's only ever referred to as a company that merged with the more recognizable figures in the bentwood story, and that may be because there are no figures associated with Mundus, the "Viennese holding company" and third "largest Austrian manufacture[r] of bentwood furniture" -- no one to fight over processes and patents. some forgotten manager probably just saw a bentwood cafe chair and decided to start making knock-offs at Mundus.

in my little research, though, i haven't found another chair that looks like the one we found in Brattleboro. i did come across a claim that the Thonet chairs fetch higher prices because Thonet is presumed to be the originator of the process.

the hammock district

here's a before and after sample of a photo run through photoshop elements:


















"la maison du hamac" (homer simpson would recognize that we were in quebec's hammock district, le quartier du hamac) shot at dusk with the night portrait setting. and again, after a little cropping, no sharpening, and correcting for the night time color cast:


















now it's morning in the hammock district.

driftwood warthog

one evening we had an excellent dinner on the avenue petit champlain (above) ((the night before we had another excellent dinner)) and came across one of the world's more fantastic private entryways:


















nevermind the driftwood seal pup with electric blue eye, the driftwood warthog is a masterpiece. notice the aggressive ear, keen yellow-glass eye, protruding tusks. how the whole body forms a snarl. and how that angry little body contrasts with its generous offer, a gift of potted petunia.

quebec, ca

we stayed near the quebec armory, at chateau laurier, so this was the view out the front door of the hotel. a fire destroyed the roof of the armory and caused significant damage, but the exterior walls seem mostly in-tact. builders were working with cranes when we left.












between the stone and the skies, the pictures look fairly grey. it sprinkled off and on while we were there, but despite a really poor job packing for the weather (we packed when it was 97 degrees, hazy and humid) we managed to walk the city for two full days, ducking into shops when necessary. all the museums were closed on monday, the rainiest day.












ruins of the old city. the ground here may be about 4 feet below the pedestrian street from which the picture is taken.












a view of chateau frontenac from the old port. we took shelter on a bench under the trees to the right. there were a lot of school kids touring around on monday. it seemed like we were well in advance of the high tourist season, though. we didn't have to share the hotel hot tubs with anyone.












the city from the citadel. the place des armes is behind the row of buildings on the right. there were a lot of cute boutique hotels there. it seemed like a good place to stay next time.













the citadel, canons -- walking back to the hotel.

moosehead lake region, me

as promised, the moosehead lake region of maine provided us a glimpse of moose. she's not in this (or any picture), but we saw her nevertheless by the side of a lonely, rainy stretch of road. kelly said, "is that real?". ted thought, "it's a horse. it's a moose. it's a horse. it's a moose." she turned her head. it was a moose. ted said, "yes. it's real."

northwest maine is utterly desolate. almost as soon as we crossed into canada, the forest gave way to fields. after passing a few lumber mills, there were only farms and small towns. moose crossing signs changed to deer crossing signs.

the difference in land use between canada's southernmost and the lower 48's northernmost regions may not be as stark as it is out west, but it's a still difference one can see from space.

brunswick, me

now that we're home, a brief flurry of posts.

in brunswick, ted conferred with the hawthorne scholars. we bought a tiny statue of the ancient dog-god of the underworld, and ate lobster.

assorted pictures, ma

we're off to maine tomorrow. the next pictures should have fewer dogs and more lobsters in them, that is, if all goes well.

brattleboro, vt

i wasn't looking for one, but found a bentwood chair in brattleboro. the woman who sold it didn't know much other than it's stamped "made in poland" (probably in polski) on the bottom. she guessed it dates from the 1940s. someone recovered it in vintage fabric, a disco-egyptian pattern (gold threads, anhk, head of nefertiti, etc.). i'll recover it in a black or tan linen, though it would probably look best in cane or rush. it's sturdy and in good shape.

we also found ice cream in brattleboro: blueberry yogurt and heath bar crunch.

not much luck yet with the fish photography. the most colorful fish are either the speediest (see below) or very, very shy. this was taken on the sports setting, which led to a visible image of the clown fish, but a grainy one.













watson continues to be photogenic. scout and annie are pleased, i think, that i mostly pester the puppy.

elementary

we're puppy sitting. here's beth's watson on the woodpile, and watson doing his landshark impression:











i'll spend part of the day reading up on this camera. we may get to brattleboro later to look into antique shops and, hopefully, an ice-cream parlor. it's in the 90s and incredibly humid.

new camera

graduation money went into a new camera. here are some early pictures. it's straight out of the box and a cloudy day.