The Mystery of the X202 and James Leonard
Zoom Program
Sunday, July 21, 2024
Please join
SAH/SCC as we welcome back author Peter Wyeth to talk about industrial designer
James Leonard. The mystery in question is of Leonard’s X202 chair, which was
manufactured between 1947 and 1951. Yet there are none around, and legend has
it that no one has ever seen one.
Leonard’s furniture—including
desks—was made of aluminum and plywood and manufactured by Educational Supply
Association (ESA) in Stevenage, Hertfordshire. Leonard’s X201 model sold by the
millions, as it was designed for students. X202 was the armchair version meant
for teachers.
According to the Stevenage Museum,
which is actively searching for the chair: “Almost every British bum of the
period must have sat on a James Leonard chair and by 1950 the rest of the
furniture industry lobbied parliament to change the rules for school furniture
as the ESA aluminum range had a virtual monopoly and the rest simply couldn’t
compete.”
British-born
Leonard was elected a Fellow of the Society of Industrial Artists in 1947, due
to the collection that contained the X202, but also due to his experience in
mass production.
Peter Wyeth’s last SAH/SCC program, for his book The
Lost Architecture of Jean Welz (DoppelHouse, 2022),
traced a string of discoveries excavated from the most fragmentary evidence on
the work of this Austrian architect (see page 5 to order the replay if you
missed it). This program promises to do the same for James Leonard and the X202
chair.
The Mystery of the X202 and James Leonard—Sunday, July 21,
2024; 1-2:30 PM Pacific; $5. Go to www.sahscc.org and
pay via PayPal; or mail in order form with check; Zoom link sent upon registration.
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