Radio Broadcast (May 1929-Apr 1930)

RADIO BROADCAST sufficiently complete choice of cabinet models in his own line, each built complete in his own factory. It would mean large investments in inventory, not only on his part, but also on the part of his jobbers and dealers, and the progress of the art is so rapid that the less popular models in such a line would have to be closed out at sacrifice prices, before technical advances in design made them entirely unsalable. Solving the Problem This difficulty is avoided, or at least minimized, by allowing the dealer to make the installation of set and loud speaker in the cabinet. He can carry an assortment of empty cabinets, and a stock of standard sets and loud speakers, and make up' the combinations as they are sold. This method, however, gives the manufacturer two new problems. How can he be sure that the combinations thus made will function properly? He will certainly be blamed if they do not. And again, in order to prevent the obsolescence of the cabinets in which his jobbers and dealers have invested, he must see that each new model is so designed that it can be installed in the cabinets previously used. This makes improvements in technical design difficult and slow. The furnishings and decorations for the living room are •chosen with care and deliberation. Here the guests will be entertained and here the radio set must be placed. It must fit into this picture harmoniously, attracting attention neither because it is much finer than the other pieces, nor because it is obviously not as good. It is almost impossible to have it accurately "match" them. It is going to be an "odd piece" at best. It is the necessity for creating cabinet designs that will meet this difficult requirement that gives the furniture craftsmen their greatest problem. Table types of radio sets are to-day housed to a very large extent in metal cases. The number of such sets sold leaves no question of their acceptability. The necessity for unsightly batteries is gone, and a small table-type receiver, perhaps on a wrought-iron stand, can be fitted into the living room in such a way as to add to the effect of the decorative scheme. It makes no pretense at matching the furniture but it may well be in complete harmony with floor lamps and fixtures. The demand for floor types, however, cannot be neglected. If these are to be done in metal, rather than wood, any attempt to imitate the beauty of wood veneer must be skillfully done. The possibilities for decorative treatment of metal are almost limitless. Automobile designers have created out of metal, forms both beautiful and satisfying, completely abandoning the types and motifs of earlier vehicles. There is no reason to doubt that radio designers will soon accomplish an equally distinctive and gratifying result. The tendency toward smaller forms, and toward the assembly of set and loud speaker in a single unit, will help in the complete adaptation of the equipment to its housing, and in producing types much finer from an artistic and decorative standpoint. The same search for new forms in decoration which has brought about the "modern" types of furniture and furnishings, will find expression in radio designs. It is not to be expected, however, that such types will dominate, .'regardless of the fact that they are well suited to the treatment of metal. Rather, I believe, we may look forward to the creation of types as different as the automobile, and equally pleasing whether they are surrounded by strictly modern, or by the more-conservative and well-established forms of furniture. Designed and photographed by Larry June An imaginative design suggested by this article and made by a Radio Broadcast staff artist. New Design Needed The Greeks have been criticized for trying to portray draperies in their statuary. Stone was not a suitable material in which to picture linen and silk. This same objection is valid to-day against an improper combination of material and treatment. Decorative schemes must be suited to the material in which they are to be executed, and no form in one material which could be better done in another can be regarded as good. Thus, metal cabinets and cases call for new and honest treatments, which need make no apology to the past or to other materials, but which in themselves are satisfying and beautiful. If any of us knew what these new forms would be, we would be building them to-day. It must not be inferred that the cabinets of to-day can be regarded as bad. Some of them are poor, to be sure, but many are excellent, and they all express this very search for something better which I have attempted to outline, and in a few we can read the tendencies which will mature to-morrow. Each new cabinet, in a sense, is an experiment in art, and it will succeed or fail, partly on the excellence of the equipment which it houses, but to a much greater degree because of the discriminating taste of the buyer in choosing, from an artistic standpoint, the furnishings for his home. In the results of these tests the designers will read the outlines for the offerings of another season. • JUNE • 1929 • • 7 1