Introducing Continua, The Erwin Hauer Studios Product Line Erwin Hauer, Austrian-born sculptor and Professor Emeritus from Yale University, has formed a new partnership, Erwin Hauer Studios, with three designers from the
New Haven, Connnecticut area. The company's purpose is to re-issue and redefine a selection of Hauer's 1950s architectural screens using digital technology and production methods. Its product line, the Continua series, has four screens in production, each with different light-diffusing properties. Each design is also available in custom configurations, variable in scale, panel size, and material. The current line will be showcased by Erwin Hauer Studios at the 2006 International Contemporary Furniture Fair held May 20-23 at the Javits Convention Center in New York City.
Additional screen designs are forthcoming. There was a considerable resurgence of interest in Hauer's screens following the 2004 publication of Erwin Hauer: Continua--Architectural Screens and Walls, which included stunning photographs of the works. A press release from the publisher, Princeton Architectural Press, said: “This book resurrects the extraordinary but littleknown work of this sculptor, whose designs of perforated and modular structures are symphonies of measured elegance. Built in Austria, Canada, Italy, Mexico, the Netherlands Antilles, Venezuela, and the U.S., Hauer's architectural walls and
screens caused a stir when they were erected in the 1950s, but have since been lost in time." Graceful and sensual, with distinctly clean lines, the screens suggest the solidity of organic forms and the fluidity of music. Asserting that music has always been his main inspiration, Hauer says his architectural screen designs are ”cantabile, with
formal aspects akin to theme melodies or repetition-with-variation motifs."
