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Contact:
Tel: 610.845.7096

Location & Shipping Address:
Bertoia Studio
644 Main St.
Bally, PA 19503

Mailing Address:
Bertoia Studio
644 Main Street
POBox 186
Bally PA 19503

Art and Design Consultants for Harry Bertoia

Starting Fee: $300.00
Fee-structure based on Bertoia Project

PayPal, Check or Money Order

Contact:
Tel: 610.845.7096

Mailing Address:
Bertoia Studio
644 Main Street
POBox 186
Bally PA 19503

Consulting Services for Harry Bertoia

Domestic and International

• Harry Bertoia Exhibitions
• Harry Bertoia Sculpture Repair
• Harry Bertoia Sculpture Installation
• Harry Bertoia Moving Sculpture, Crating & Packaging
• Harry Bertoia Photographic Usage
• Harry Bertoa Film/Video Usage
• Harry Bertoia Magazine and Book Articles
• Harry Bertoia Research Microfiche
• Harry Bertoia Film Footage Documentary
• Harry Bertoia Performing Arts, Sonambient
• Harry Bertoia Monoprints
• Harry Bertoia  Jewelry
• Harry Bertoia Design

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Harry Bertoia

Arieto Bertoia was born in San Lorenzo, Italy (northern Italy) on March 10, 1915. He arrived in Canada in the 1930s with his family. After not enough work, his brother, Aresta, and he then moved to Michigan and Arieto Bertoia when applying for US citizenship was then named Harry Bertoia. In Michigan, in 1937, he received a scholarship to study at Cranbrook Academy of Art and he stayed there to eventually teach Metalwork. Here, he met Brigitta Valentiner and married, she was the daughter of Wilhelm Valentiner, a profound art collector from Berlin who was brought to Detroit by Edsel Ford to establish the Detroit Institute of Art and then Raleigh, North Carolina, Art Museum.

After a shortage of metal during the war, Harry was forced to teach graphic art at Cranbrook. He spent his life, making drawings, or monoprints to compliment his sculptures. After his time at Cranbrook, he then moved to Santa Monica, California and briefly worked for the US Navy after World War II drawing glider parts. He then took work with Charles and Ray Eames and worked briefly with them developing the Organic Design Competition’s prize-winning molded plywood chairs into a form suitable for mass production.

In the early 1950s, Hans and Florence Knoll, invited Harry and his family to come to Pennsylvania to design his own line of chairs. Not only did Harry design a line of functional furniture, he also helped the workers at Knoll to establish the metal jigs and mechanisms to mass produce his work. Harry was an integral part of the Industrial Revolution. We consider him the godfather of 20th century design, he was the forerunner to what we all know as Modern Design today.

First and foremost, Harry Bertoia was a sculptor. Designing for Knoll, was a job, but this job established many connections for Harry to establish Bertoia Studio. Eero Saarinen visited Bertoia in the 1950s, saw his metal work and commissioned him to create a large sculpture for General Motors Company. It is unknown, but we believe there are over 50,000 art works including large scale commission work made by Harry Bertoia is his lifetime. Harry Bertoia died on November 6, 1978.

Bertoia Studio’s foundation was built on Harry Bertoia’s innovations in Art thru metalwork, design, printmaking, and Sonambient, a registered trademark. In 1978, Val Bertoia took over the business of Bertoia Studio. Today, he authenticates and repairs his father’s works. Val has an engineering background and he worked with Harry to help fabricate 1000s of sound-sculptures in the 1970s. Today he continues to make his own Art and Projects using solar energies. Melissa Strawser, a MA Fine Art graduate in Printmaking from The Slade School of Art, University College London, started to work with Val in Bertoia Studio in 1998. In 1998, Melissa began to manage all international-related projects for Bertoia Studio based on Harry Bertoia. Val offered a studio alongside him and they embarked on a fulfilling endeavor. Melissa and Val are first and foremost, artists and humanitarians. When it comes to anything Bertoia, they have grounded and established together a unique expertise and grasp on Harry Bertoia and his works. The combination of this innate knowledge hinged with enthusiasm offers a insightful direction for Harry Bertoia projects worldwide. Bertoia stands on its own, but together, through Bertoia Studio, Val and Melissa represent the Bertoia legacy both nationally and internationally.