Venesta Stool in Plywood from Isokon, 1930s

Description

An iconic Isokon laminated birch plywood stool, with part distributor label. Circa 1933.

The Isokon company was founded in London … more An iconic Isokon laminated birch plywood stool, with part distributor label. Circa 1933.

The Isokon company was founded in London in 1929 by the entrepreneur Jack Pritchard (1899-1992), the architect Wells Coates (1895-1958) and others. The company designed, built and made up-to-date architecture and furniture, often using plywood.

This is a surprisingly strong stool considering it only weighs 1.1 kg. They were manufactured by the Estonian company Luterma from around 1930, and were imported by their British distributor Venesta.

These stools were first imported by Pritchard in 1933 and retailed as 'Model no. 1' by his fledgling firm known as Isokon.

The stool retains the original finish which has been lightly cleaned and waxed. The small metal cap feet have rusted and a few are missing. The top and the base of the top has had some historic woodworm, these have been fully treated with a woodworm killer injector. The base has a couple of stress areas, as shown. These are solid and the base is sturdy.

The butterfly bolt is probably not original, the top has some slight movement to it from the base.

Two of these rare stools are available. This piece has an attribution mark,
I am sure that it is completely authentic and take full responsibility for any authenticity
issues arising from misattribution less