Furniture of the 60s can still be found in old apartments, but most of us do not remember how the average interior of an apartment of the 60s looked, even before the sideboards and cabinet furniture. Nevertheless, to look at the “situation” of these apartments is very interesting. I invite you to open the door to the “apartment” of the Soviet era for a family with an average income living in Lida, the Grodno region of the BSSR.
We continue our review of the exhibition “Khrushchevka 60’s”.
The table is one of the most important objects of the “situation”, despite the dimensions of the apartment, he was always found in the center of the room. In the late 50’s it was possible to see round tables everywhere. In many families it was furniture that was on the occasion; industry in the province still produced massive round tables.
Longevity of this piece of furniture is understandable to those who went into the kitchen in a typical Khrushchev – there is a table beyond which the family could dine and have supper, there simply was not room. There was no choice either – only in the living room! And families (big families!) Then kept the foundations, gathering together in the evening. After supper at the table, they played chess checkers, wrote letters, read books and the press, and children did their homework.
The table at our exhibition is also round. To different dates of the calendar we make visitors happy with “themed servings”.
This type of table was designed sliding in the central part. Holidays, feasts about, were not conceivable without friends and neighbors!
In the early 60-ies round massive tables still stood in the apartments of residents of large cities, drinking episodes of feature films – to confirm this.
In place of the difficult post-war years, bright, filled with faith and hope for a better future of the 60s came … .. This is a period of new discoveries, active exploration of the cosmos, hippie movement and travel around the country. All this, of course, one way or another, was reflected in the interior design. Khrushchev began to travel abroad, the “curtain” opened a little and it became possible to find out: what about there …
Designers were able to use for furniture manufacturing such unconventional materials in this field, like glass, metals and colorful plastics, which added brightness and variety to the furniture industry palette.
Deliberate combination of bright, and often not matching with each other, shades in one interior. In the city apartment of the 60’s the most popular colors are orange, green, light green, yellow, blue. Furniture has become square in shape, geometric and asymmetrical ornaments have been used in the textile drawing. Down with the petty-bourgeois frills and ruches! There was an external lightness due to the legs of a conical shape of chrome-plated metal pipes with an additional chrome finish on the edges of the laminate countertops and chairs. The chairs were tightly covered with plastic, reminiscent of the fashionable in those years, glossy patent leather. It was the chic of big cities. Remember the scenery of the films “Thaw”, “Dandies” …
But the regional cities of the republics of the Union-like chic did not know, and such furniture was seen later, in the 60’s, most often in apartments you can see, for example, sofas a-la Stalin empire.
High massive back, in the upper part of which there could be shelves for small items, a small mirror, inlay. Actually, it’s just an office sofa. But only the office in the provincial apartment was a rarity and there was such a sofa in the “atmosphere”, like an outsider …
But severe minimalism also modernized it – it cost the office sofa to reduce the height of the back, “dress it” in a cheap tapestry and here is the suitable furniture for the tight Khrushchev. And to save more living space, the back or rollers made folding.
The history of creating a sofa is full of mysteries and contradictions. Some researchers are sure that the sofa is a “descendant” of an ordinary wooden bench. Others are sure that such kind of upholstered furniture is one of the gifts of the East.
In my memory of provincial childhood, there was a cute sofa – an ottoman with rollers and massive cushions in the kit. Covered it was a cover of bright fabric with ruffles, therefore, beckoned with comfort and the ability to swing the spring parts, imitating the waves. I think it was so attractive, precisely in connection with the “eastern note” …
Many believe that this unusual piece of furniture has long been out of fashion and has lost its relevance. This is not true. Today, world designers increasingly include it in a collection of collections in the classic and modern styles – you can buy ottomans from many well-known European furniture brands.
A small folding sofa of our museum “apartment of the 60’s” was presented recently and believe me, he added an exhibition that can be accurately called “the atmosphere of the house” …
No less traditional object of Soviet furniture was a buffet – a small narrow cabinet with doors, often – glass, in which the housewives stored dishes. However, for her usually a couple of closed branches were usually enough. But on the open surfaces it was possible, to envy guests, to store the most expensive items – for example, porcelain.
It should be clarified for those who are not “born in the USSR.”
The surviving legacy of the late 19th and early 20th centuries is the “slide” cupboard for festive or collectible dishes. “Gorka” was named because the upper part had a body structure and was glass on all sides. For review. There was a slide in the living room.
The buffet was already then, but did not have such a status – its place in the dining room, and even in the kitchen. For the sake of justice – the status was. Merchant buffet. He was often a real work of art handmade! And today it is a real “hunting antiquarians.”
The buffet of the post-war years was devoid of decorativeness, simple and cheap.
And in the apartments of the 60’s you could meet anyone: bought on the occasion, gotten away from relatives or worse – expropriated …
The buffet very quickly pushed aside a new kind of furniture – a sideboard that was started to be produced and sold in big cities in the late 60’s and only 20 years later the caterpillar crawled into the apartments … But this is another story and a different lifestyle.
Buffet in our “Khrushchev 60’s” gave the family of citizens, remembering that when they got an apartment, they transported all the simple belongings (that they had). And the buffet was the first purchase. The only new piece of furniture. The hostess insisted!
Here is a review this time.
Designers furniture, restorers and just lovers, fortunately, appreciate the retro style. Today’s retro-style interior is not limited to a time frame of one decade. It is perfectly acceptable to use elements from different stages of the retro era in one interior. It is much more important to pay closer attention to the correspondence of color, texture and pattern. Adding a few carefully selected elements of retro style in a concrete modern interior will only emphasize the charm of old objects.
For illustration, materials from the funds of our museum, as well as those found on the Internet are used.
Request to INEQUAL to this topic residents of our city Lida: share photos from personal archives, which are made against the background of interiors of the 60’s.
Scan and return with gratitude!
