bentwood
Curved furniture material
Bentwood refers to wood that has been steamed or heated until pliable, then bent into curved shapes and allowed to harden.
The technique produces lightweight, sturdy furniture—particularly chairs with gracefully curved backs and legs: a classic bentwood rocker, bentwood café chairs.
As an adjective, it describes items made this way: bentwood furniture, bentwood armrests.
Single-person sitting furniture
- rockerChair on curved rails
- bistroInformal small restaurant
- stoolBackless sitting furniture
- armchairUpholstered seat with supports
settee · chaise · lounge · recliner · cane · wicker · rattan · headboard
Smooth, angleless line
- arcCurved line segment
- loopCurve closing on itself
- spiralCurve winding around center
- scrollWound document of parchment
sweep · arch · whorl · flowing · sinuous · contour · undulating · serpentine
Curvilinear decorative movement, 1890s
- modernismFavoring contemporary approaches
- BauhausInfluential modernist design school
- EamesMidcentury furniture designer
- functionalismTheory emphasizing purposes and roles
minimalism · streamline · ergonomics · sculptural · organic · sinuous · flowing · graceful
chair
Single-person sitting furniture
armchair · settee · chaise · lounge · recliner · cane · wicker · rattan · headboard · cradle
curve
Smooth, angleless line
scroll · sweep · arch · whorl · flowing · sinuous · contour · undulating · serpentine · graceful
Art Nouveau
Curvilinear decorative movement, 1890s
- modernismFavoring contemporary approaches
- BauhausInfluential modernist design school
- EamesMidcentury furniture designer
functionalism · minimalism · streamline · ergonomics · sculptural · organic · sinuous · flowing · graceful · innovation
artisan
Skilled manual tradesperson
- handmadeCreated manually, not mechanically
- joineryFitting wood pieces together
- carpentryWood construction trade
workmanship · precision · skill · technique · tradition · mastery · handcraft · finishing · woodworker · guild
steaming
Releasing hot vapor
- laminatingBonding protective plastic layers
- moldingDecorative architectural edging
- shapingGiving something its form
clamping · gluing · soaking · forming · jigging · pressing · layering · curving · softening · splicing
- woodworkingwoodworking, saw, hammer, drill, chisel
- Nordic designDanish design, Swedish design, Nordic design, clean lines, functional design
- American furnitureShaker, colonial, Chippendale, Queen Anne, Windsor chair
- antique furnitureantique furniture, chairs, tables, highboys, cabinets
- canoespaddle, dugout canoe, paddles, birch bark canoe, canoe paddle
- Modern FurnitureEames chair, lounge chair, armchair, sideboard, credenza
bentwoodcarved wood
Sculpted timber artwork
turned wood · hand-carved · chiseled · routed · joinery
- bentwood chairFurniture with curved wood frame
bent, wood, bend, wooden, woods, bending, unbending, bender, benders