Exhibition Radomír Hofman

Exhibition Radomír Hofman

We would like to invite you to the opening of the exhibition Architect Radomír Hofman: designs of bentwood furniture for TON on Wednesday 28 June 2023 at 5 pm at the castle in Bystřice pod Hostýnem. The exhibition has been prepared to mark the 100th anniversary of the birth of academic architect Radomír Hofman, one of the three post-war designers of the national company TON, whose original designs in the 1960s fundamentally influenced the shape of bentwood furniture. Born in Wallachian Meziříčí (1923-1970), he graduated from the Vocational School for Woodworking and the School of Applied Arts in Prague. He gained valuable experience working for architects Zdeněk Plesník and Otakar Frňka; the influence of his teacher Otto Rothmayer is evident in his later designs. After several years as a designer, he joined the national company TON, where he worked as a designer of seating furniture from 1960 to 1970, and from 1966 as head of the shape development department. In ten years, he designed over 200 models of seating furniture, including children's furniture, tables and work chairs in addition to chairs and armchairs. The most interesting production designs were created in the second half of the 1960s, partly under the influence of the Council for the Creative Culture of Production, from which he received several awards (Golden Kahn, Selected for CID and Outstanding Product of the Year, etc.). Hofman's flagship design, the Pattern 650 armchair, which follows the classic shapes of bentwood furniture, was selected to furnish the rooms of the Czechoslovak Pavilion at the 1967 Montreal and 1970 Osaka World Expositions. Hofman's designs will be presented in the exhibition through original furniture pieces, photographs and other visual materials. The exhibition is held under the auspices of Ing. Mgr. Zuzana Fišerová, Ph.D., Councillor for Culture of the Zlín Region, and is realized in cooperation with the town of Bystřice pod Hostýnem and with the financial support of the Zlín Region, the joint-stock company TON and the company Modernista. It will last until 15 October 2023.