ROBIN BUSH ASSOCIATES LIMITED
Robin Bush Assoc. Ltd.
Vancouver, BC: Robin Bush Assoc. Ltd., c. 1955. Original edition. Text in English Slim quarto. Printed Plasti-Coil bound wrappers. 40 pp. Furniture catalog illustrated with halftones and line art specifications. Multiple paper stocks with period correct design and typography throughout. Textblock dampstained outward from spine heel with some pages lightly skinned and warped overall. Owner's signature on the cover and on the first page. A reference copy of this rare Canadian Modern Design catalog.
10.5 x 11 Plasti-Coil-bound catalog with 40 pages, well-illustrated with black-and-white photographs and illustrations. Featured furniture in this catalog include chairs, sofas, daybeds, coffee tables, buffets, end tables, tables, desks, a motel group (headboard, end table, desk with luggage rack) designed by either Earle Morrison or Robin Bush. The last page features an Executive Office Desk by George Nelson.
Includes extensive photographic and line art documentation of the Morrison-Bush furniture designed and produced in the early 1950s. The curatorial information in this catalog alone is worth the price of admission.
Robin Bush [Vancouver, BC, 1921 – 1982] studied at the Vancouver School of Art in the late 1930s, then served in the Canadian Navy from 1941 to 1945. He began his career as a designer when he partnered with Earle Morrison in manufacture of Morrison-Bush furniture in 1950. The two designers made low-lying sofas and lounge chairs.
In 1953, Bush set out on his own to form Robin Bush Associates Limited, through which he created his own furniture and sold Herman Miller products under license. Shortly after launching his company, he won a contract to supply metal frame furniture for Alcan’s mine at Kitimat. A 1959 article in Canadian Art emphasized Bush’s “intelligence and genius,” noting that Alcan chose Bush’s designs because they would increase comfort levels for workers and help retain employees.
Bush’s early designs have been praised for their “clean, sharp and geometric” aesthetic and “interesting, and at the time, unusual colours.” After Kitimat, he continued working with metal and bold colours, creating the Prismasteel line for Canadian Office and School Furniture (COSF).
It was with COSF that Bush created his most memorable design. The Lollipop seating system featured comfortable curved backs in a unique circular shape. The system was completely modular, allowing for any number of seats to be added, along with circular side tables. In 1960 the Lollipop system was chosen for the new Toronto international airport terminal. Bush left COSF in 1966 and began working in exhibition design before taking on the role of director at the Sheridan College School of Crafts and Design.
Earle A. Morrison [Vancouver, BC, 1923 – ] studied Aenonautical Engineering at the California Institute of Technology in the early 1940s and worked in the plywood components division of Hughes Aircraft during World War II. Morrison moved to Victoria, BC after the War to start his small custom furniture design and manufacturing business. Morrison and Robin Bush took over the Standard Furniture Plant in 1950 to manufacture Morrison-Bush furniture, sold in Victoria and through Eaton’s stores across Canada. The partnership ended in 1953 when Bush relocated to Vancouver.