Geoffrey Harcourt

GEOFFREY HARCOURT (London, 1935).
Pair of armchairs "F520" for Artifort, Netherlands, 1970.
Seat in white fabric.
Swivel.
Metal base.
It has been reupholstered.
Measurements: 82 x 70 x 84 cm.

Pair of swivel armchairs with tulip feet in black metal. They feature a refined aesthetic familiar with the Space Age style. Geoffrey Harcourt was a designer for Artifort and gained worldwide fame designing loungers and chaise longues for offices. Harcourt has won many awards and became a "Royal Designer for Industry" in 1978.

Geoffrey Harcourt attended High Wycombe Technical School, and subsequently High Wycombe School of Art, where he gained a National Diploma in Design (NDD). He completed his training at the Royal College of Art in London. After graduation in 1960, Geoffrey Harcourt travelled to Chicago (USA), where he worked in industrial design from 1960 to 1961, before returning to Europe and working with designer Jacob Jensen in Copenhagen. In 1962 he returned to England and set up his own practice in Oxfordshire, where he began designing various seating programs for the Dutch company Artifort. In 1962, he designed his first series of armchairs - for small offices - for Artifort. Geoffrey Harcourt played an important role in Artifort's successful transition into the contract furniture market. His designs introduced Artifort to the international market, initially designing mainly seating for reception areas. Thus, the 1963 "042 series" for Artifort was Harcourt's first major international and immediate success, setting a precedent for alliances between British designers and foreign companies. The futuristic seating associated with the space age of the 1960s and 1970s, created from this fruitful partnership, became Harcourt's best-known works, with many models still in production today. His Artfort armchairs, at once nostalgic and modern in design, became iconic.