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| Icon-Baby's Vintage Treasure Find - Parchment covered side tables in the manner of Karl Springer |
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| Icon-Trend Interior Design - Sydney Residential Project (Photo & Styling: Sabine Warlich) |
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| Side table, 1970 by Karl Springer |
Karl Springer is one of my most favorite Design Icons
Karl Springer was born in Germany but eventually moved to New York City to work as a bookbinder after his education in France. His early multi-nationalism and work with natural materials helped to shape his later work in furniture design.
Springer began working for Lord and Taylor in the late 1950s, and later moved to Bergdorf Goodman, where he continued covering books and collectables with leather and other exotic materials. In 1965 he was able to open his own design studio, and continued to run Karl Springer Ltd. by himself for many years.
The height of Springer’s design fame came during the 1970-80s when Springer was running multiple workshops and traveling extensively between them. This travel and exposure to new materials helped to fuel the creative freedoms he took with his designs.
Springer’s work has Art Deco, Asian, freeform, and African influences, all of which are incorporated into his modern designs. The quality of the craftsmanship is apparent in the lines but also in the materials: Springer chose exotic woods and leathers to work in, and he did not hesitate to use new materials like Lucite or ancient materials such as bone or brass.
Springer is often credited with the return in popularity of shagreen, an Asian sharkskin material that was popular in the 1920s, which was also a bookbinding material.
