Harry Bertoia

Harry Bertoia was Italian-born American sculptor, printmaker, and jewelry and furniture designer. His genius mind and boundless imagination has created unforgettable and remarkable masterpieces that is still popular up to this day. He moved to America with his brother at the age of 15 and earned the skill of handmade jewelry in Cass Technical High School. In 1937, Bertoia received a scholarship to the Cranbrook Academy of Art in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, where he studied until 1943. It was during this time where he met and worked with designers Charles and Ray Eames but he received no credit for his contributions from them so he left and moved on to join Knoll Associates in 1950. It is in his own metal shop in a corner of Knoll’s production facility that the ever-famous Diamond chair was conceived. And while he was only able to design crafted over 50 public sculptures, and created the Sonambient sounding sculptures. From biomorphic jewelry to 4-ton fountains, from children’s chairs to the asymmetric chaise, from singing rods to thunderous 10’ gongs, from color field graphics to layered monographics, one series of furniture before he died at age 63 from lung cancer.

The name Harry Bertoia is only used to describe the characteristics of the goods made to the original design, and not as a trademark.