Pinch Me

In the lexicon of modern furniture design, Pinch is ccertainly a brand to conjure with. Founded in early 2004 by husband and wife team Russell and Oona Pinch, the collection debuted at the 100% Design show with 10 original pieces that went on to win the coveted Blueprint 100% Design Best Newcomer Award.

Since then Pinch has gone on to win a swathe of prestigious accolades, including the Homes and Gardens Design Classic Award for Furniture, and the Guild Mark for Excellence in Modern Furniture Design.

Championed by Elle Decoration and with collections for Heals and Son the brand has gone from strength to strength and now counts lighting and architectural designs amongst its oeuvre.

Born in 1973, Russell Pinch graduated from Ravensbourne College of Design, London. After graduating he worked as Sir Terence Conran’s design assistant and in 1995 he became a Senior Product Designer for the Conran Group. Here he was responsible for developing a diverse range of products for the Conran shops and restaurants and many of the designs for the Conran Collection, Conran’s benchmark homeware collection.

Look a little closer, however, and you will see more than a passing resemblance between Pinch's twenty first century designs and classics from the mid-century period.

Take Pinch's Pendal Sofa, a star amongst its current collection with its sensual, curves:

via Pinch Design

Look familiar? For me, it's a homage to Finn Juhl's classic Chieftain sofa from 1949:

via Google Images

Other looky-likies include the Yves Writing Desk (as seen in the title image, above), perhaps influenced by a whole raft of midcentury desk designs such as this Danish teak example by Lovig:

via ebay

or, indeed, George Nelson's swag leg desk:

via Google Images

...The Harper Dining Table:
via Pinch Design

...and Hans Wegner's teak side table:

via OurShowHome

The Vigo triple shelving Unit: via Pinch Design

...and Kandya's kitchen series: via Google Images

and finally the Maiden Stool:
via Pinch Design

...and the Ubiquitous Time Life Stool by Charles and Ray Eames:

via Google Images

So what is all of this saying? There's absolutely no denying the quality of materials and craftsmanship that goes into the Pinch design process; I, for one, would be happy to give any of the above pieces house room. But perhaps the point is not that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery but rather that, much like there are no new stories to tell, perhaps there are no new furniture boundaries to explore.....