Debuting in the Czech Center New York booth, Up is something of a history lesson. The company, founded in 1921 by architect Jindrich Halabala, was Czechoslovakia’s biggest furniture manufacturer at the beginning of the twentieth century. It continued to make Czech designs under the communist regime, but few of those products were known outside the country. Up had since folded, but was relaunched this year and now produces three eras of Czech designs—lost Modern classics like Halabala’s own H79 tubular steel chair, Zbynek Hvrinac’s Hotel Praha armchair (which is only now being introduced abroad), and brand-new pieces such as Jan Padrnos’s Couple sofa and Maxim Velcovsky’s Fabrika shelving. The designs are still manufactured in the Czech Republic—when possible in the original factories—and in consultation with Halabala’s 73-year-old son Ivan.
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