Paul T. Frankl | Autobiography

Edited by Christopher Long and Aurora McClain 2013. Hardcover. 252 pages with 85 illustrations and an index.  $29.95 | 9780983254027 Cover: “Propeller” chair, c. 1937. Collection Paulette Frankl. Photographer unknown. Book and cover design by Peter Duniecki. Viennese émigré Paul T. Frankl (1886-1958) was one of the pioneers of early modern design in the United States, known for his “Skyscraper” furniture of the 1920s and his work for the Hollywood élite in the 1930s and early 1940s. Among Frankl’s best-known designs were his stair-stepped “Skyscraper” bookcases, his streamlined “Speed” chairs, and “Propeller” chair, as well as his many original pieces in rattan. Toward the end of his life, he also produced a significant body of mass production pieces for the Johnson Furniture Company. Frankl was a prolific and influential writer about design, the author of five books, including Form and Re-Form (1930) and Machine-Made Leisure (1932), and admired by his cohorts and his friend Frank Lloy