Isokon Now

Isokon is a furniture making company specialising in plywood production. Our collection is characterised by minimalism, material efficiency and construction. Isokon designs exploit plywood’s structural strength and celebrate its inherent lightness and remarkable flexibility. We combine technology and hand-making skills to make our products. As a result of nearly a century of experimentation we have become experts in plywood manipulation. Today, all Isokon designs are carefully handmade in small batch production at our workshop in East London.

Isokon Then

Isokon’s history is punctuated by the names of the most renowned designers and architects of the twentieth century. Since the company was begun in 1931 innovation has been at its heart. First came The Lawn Road Flats; aka The Isokon Building, a true icon of contemporary culture and home to a generation of radicals and creatives. The launch of the Isokon Furniture Company followed in 1935, specialising in plywood, a thoroughly modern furniture making material.

When Walter Gropius, founder of the Bauhaus school, found safe haven in London, a home at the Lawn Road Flats and a job as Chief Controller of Design at the new Isokon Furniture Company, a frenetic period of furniture invention followed. Fuelled by the inescapable talents of fellow Bauhaus alumni Marcel Breuer and Moholy Nagy. But brevity was its most outstanding feature. In just two years the most iconic Isokon furniture designs were created. A revival came in the 1960s. Then, again, in the 1990s when the Isokon Plus label was established as a vehicle for new design and Barber & Osgerby took over where Breuer left off.

A London brand

Isokon has the remarkable distinction of being a London-based furniture manufacturer. With some small exceptions, we have always produced our furniture here. Making in the city is unique. The aesthetics of rural workshops and a proximity to nature are not our reality. Instead, we celebrate the noise and creative energy of this progressive and diverse city.

Methods of Making

Moulding plywood creates little waste, uses little energy, but can be a slow process. The making of three-dimensional plywood forms requires calculation, force, and patience. Each Isokon object passes through many hands. Our giant manual presses are essential equipment still. We use traditional processes and hand-making alongside technology in a production system developed over many decades.

Adventures in Plywood

Multiple sheets of thin wood veneer are glued together to form a material stronger, lighter, thinner and more economical than its precursor. Plywood impresses with its versatility and malleability. Although an engineered material, plywood retains the qualities of solid wood and can be expected to age in the same way. Our signature birch veneer slowly transforms from a pale to rich hue over many years. Plywood gives us endless creative possibilities. We challenge ourselves daily to meet the material’s potential.

The Collection

Isokon is, largely, a mono material company and plywood is our principal material. We offer a birch finish across our Standard Collection. This plentiful pale wood is derived from the most common tree in Europe. Recently we have reintroduced stained black birch, an original Isokon finish from the 1930s and masur birch, available on some designs. Such is plywood’s versatility that completely different aesthetics are easily achieved through the application of different 'skins’.