Understanding Modern Design with Michael Bush

By Sue Cullen | Photo by John Revisky

Modern design is an integral part of Sarasota’s cultural heritage with roots in the notable Sarasota School of Architecture. Today’s homeowners, regardless of architectural taste, are attracted to modern home furnishings because of the soothing clean lines and the excitement of its bold artistry. Finding just the right pieces is a bit of an art in itself, and Home Resource in Sarasota’s trendy Rosemary District has been purveying contemporary and licensed modern furniture since 2003. Michael and Kathy Bush are the owners of Home Resource, and Michael is the long-serving President of the Rosemary District. In 2014, he established the business association, Sarasota Design District, to promote the creative home-related talent that resides near their store. He shares the interesting history of some iconic modern furniture and provides guidance on finding the perfect modern pieces to enhance any home.

What is the difference between modern and contemporary furniture? 

Modern design refers to the specific time period between the early and mid-twentieth century. This was the peak of art and design informed by Scandinavian and German Bauhaus design, creating a distinct style focused on simple form and function. From modern came mid-century modern, which was developed in the 1950s and 1960s. Contemporary design is constantly changing to reflect the popular styles of present day design. It borrows qualities from modernism, minimalism, and other global styles, without hyper-focusing on any one in particular. Contemporary is by definition what’s going on in design at this very moment in time, which makes it more fluid and hard to pin down. Modern design, on the other hand, has a distinguishable aesthetic that emphasizes crisp lines, warm neutrals, and balance.

Home Resource carries licensed modern furniture. What is that?

We only represent modern brands that have licensed the rights to production. This is Herman Miller, Knoll, Fritz Hansen, Cassina, Vitra and Artifort. We do not sell knockoffs or fakes. These companies that produce licensed furniture do the research, make the investment and create authentic, iconic pieces. They need to be supported for their efforts. 

The Knoll Platner Collection, among others, is very popular right now. Why is that?

Knoll’s most successful designers are Eero Saarinen and Warren Platner. Certainly, the first thing you would point to is that their designs are timeless. The appeal of their design is about simplicity, functionality, beauty, and price point. When you think that a Saarinen marble top dining table or a Platner dining table can be purchased for less than $4,000, that is incredible. Platner was rejected twice by Hans Knoll because they could not figure out how to produce his steel wire furniture cost effectively. Finally, Hans saw that it was very similar to the production of metal shopping carts and the rest is history.  

Wasn’t Hans Knoll’s wife a designer of iconic modern furniture? 

Yes, Florence Schust Knoll Bassett, who was known as Shu, was married to Hans and was his business partner until his death in 1955. She trained as an architect and was known as the business brains and the financier of Knoll.  She really didn’t consider herself a furniture designer per se but took a view of interior design that incorporated the furnishings as part of the whole. The Knoll sofa is an excellent example of that. It is a scaled-down translation of the rhythm and proportions of mid-century modern architecture, incorporating the expected clean lines but warmed through color and texture.

Many iconic modern pieces have interesting stories behind them, such as the famous Egg chair. What can you tell us about that and other iconic modern furniture?

Arne Jacobsen designed the Egg chair for the SAS Royal Hotel in Copenhagen. He was such a control freak that everything in the hotel was designed by him. That includes the cutlery, the lights, and the Egg and Swan chairs. 

Eero Saarinen designed the womb chair on a challenge by Florence Knoll to create a chair she could curl up in. Its groundbreaking body design was so technical that he had to use a boat builder to create the fiberglass mold.

Modern furniture is often this marriage of art and function. Sculptor Isamu Noguchi’s very distinctive wood and glass coffee table emphasizes the artistry of modern furniture design. Its gently curving clean lines are at once ethereal and dramatic. The design is highly practical and looks as fresh today as it did when it was introduced in 1948.

Possibly one of the most recognized modern pieces is the beautiful molded plywood lounge chair.

Ray and Charles Eames built molded wooden splits for the Army in World War II and used that technology to create many of their molded wood furniture pieces. The molded plywood lounge chair was recognized by Time magazine as the Best Design of the 20th Century. The editors described it as “something elegant, light, and comfortable. Much copied, but never bettered.”

Mid-century modern is popular right now. What should people know about that? 

As it relates to our experience, we have two categories of mid-century furniture buyers. Baby boomers are buying because their kids are no longer in the house and the environment is right. They usually are buying pieces that they had in their earlier lives and gave away, or it was something they had always dreamed about and now have the means to buy it. The younger generation learned about mid-century through the TV program Mad Men, and that spurred their interest. 

Is it possible to incorporate a few modern pieces into my existing décor?

Many of the furniture pieces can stand on their own without identifying the entire house as mid-century or modern. We have only done one entire house in mid-century and that is because the architecture of the house dictated it. People are buying the licensed iconic pieces because they are timelessly designed with the functionality to last a long time. 

Home Resource
741 Central Avenue | 941-366-6690 | homeresource.com

For the past 10 years, Sue Cullen has written about, and enjoyed, the Sarasota scene. When she’s not doing that, she works with clients in her PR/marketing business.