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Trent University

Heritage Stewardship

  • Welcome
  • The Architectural Vision
  • Ron Thom
  • Furniture
  • Revitalization Projects
  • Heritage Policy
Orange Ron Thom designed side chair and foot stool

Heritage Stewardship

  • Welcome
  • The Architectural Vision
  • Ron Thom
  • Furniture
    • Alvar Aalto Collection
    • Arne Jacobsen Collection
    • Bruno Mathsson Collection
    • Charles Eames Collection
    • Eero Saarinen Collection
    • Hans Wegner Collection
    • Harry Bertoia Collection
    • Kaare Klint Collection
    • Michael Thonet Collection
    • Robin Day Collection
    • Ron Thom Original Collection
  • Revitalization Projects
  • Heritage Policy
TRENTU.CA / Heritage Stewardship / Furniture

Furniture

The Legendary Furniture

Trent University embodied Ron Thom’s ideal of a gesamtkunstwerk, a “total work of art”, for which the architect would design, commission or otherwise oversee each component of the building from the outside in, from the gardens to the ashtrays. including its original furniture, which quickly became famous. He designed much of the furniture as beautiful built-in benches and millwork embedded within the actual building. He also created intricate standalone tables and stools, and specified highly sophisticated avant-garde chairs from internationally renowned designers.

His original furniture designs are deeply informed by the work of the great American architect Frank Lloyd Wright, whom Thom revered. Like Wright, Thom’s ideal mode of furniture-making was not factory production but hand-crafted. He considered the quality and pattern of the woodgrain even when devising the most basic millwork for the university’s service areas. His more prominent tables, for the dining hall and boardrooms and common areas, are crafted using different kinds of wood with beautifully detailed corners and undersides, often with intricate notches and joinery. His built-in furniture included not only wooden millwork but also concrete benches that seem to grow right out of the walls.

Thom also specified a top-notch selection of chairs by other designers, effectively creating a gallery highlighted by the world’s top Chari designers: Harry Bertoia, Michael Thonet, Eero Saarinen, Arne Jacobsen, Charles Eames, Bruno Mathsson, Alvar Aalto, Hans Wegner and Kaare Klint.

An older photo of original Ron Thom chairs that were located around Trent on display

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Classic photograph of the various chairs done by the artist Ron Thom at Trent university

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A display of chairs from our heritage collection

Furniture

  • Alvar Aalto Collection
  • Arne Jacobsen Collection
  • Bruno Mathsson Collection
  • Charles Eames Collection
  • Eero Saarinen Collection
  • Hans Wegner Collection
  • Harry Bertoia Collection
  • Kaare Klint Collection
  • Michael Thonet Collection
  • Robin Day Collection
  • Ron Thom Original Collection
  • Support Heritage - Donate Now

Additional Resources

  • Ron Thom: Trent University’s Walking Tour
  • Media and Awards
  • Student Project: Ron Thom's Original Collection
  • Trent University Art Collection
  • Trent University Visual Archive
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Trent University respectfully acknowledges it is located on the treaty and traditional territory of the Mississauga Anishinaabeg. We offer our gratitude to First Peoples for their care for, and teachings about, our earth and our relations. May we honour those teachings.

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