Quadrat-Motif Tables
Arts & Crafts in the 21st Century.
Many American and European Arts & Crafts designers used repetitive patterns of squares to provide decorative elements without creating an excessively ornamental effect.
Josef Hoffman made Quadrat-Motif a familiar element of Wiener Werkstätte designs. Frank Lloyd Wright frequently used repetitive squares as a design element. Karl Kipp and Dard Hunter often employed the decorative square motif in designs for the Tookay and Roycroft shops.
Arts & Crafts scholars have not untangled the interrelated origins and influences behind the broad popularity of Quadrat-Motif designs. Scottish Arts & Crafts designers Mackintosh, MacNair and the Macdonalds are often credited with influencing their American counterparts to adopt the square as a decorative motif. Although it has strong associations with the Vienna Secessionists and the Wiener Werkstätte, Viennese design critics and craftsmen saw British influence in the use of decorative squares.
From Roycroft to Modernism. After a trip to Vienna in 1908, Dard Hunter is said to have inspired Karl Kipp's introduction of Viennese Quadrat-Motif influences in many Roycroft metalwork designs. Today, historic Quadrat-Motif designs can be seen as contributing precursors to 20th C. Modernism and the International Style.
Lee Badger's Quadrat-Motif Tables are a thoroughly modern interpretation of these Arts & Crafts influences. They are individually crafted from laser cut and hand forged steel, made in various sizes and proportions depending on their intended place and use.
The finish is an oxide patina created directly from the steel surface and fixed with Boston polish amber paste wax. The tops are ½” bronze plate glass with beveled edges. The inset top design allows alternate tops of wood, stone or composite solid-surface materials