{{Short description|Canadian furniture designer}} {{Infobox person | name = Russell Spanner | image = | alt = | caption = | other_names = | occupation = Canadian designer | known_for = residential furniture design | birth_date = {{birth year|1916}} | death_date = {{Death date and age|1974|1916}} | birth_place = | death_place = }}
'''Russell Spanner''' (1916–1974) was a Canadian designer who contributed to residential furniture designs in the 1950s.
thumb|Lounge Chair with Arms, designed by Russell Spanner, 1950. Photo by Ernest Mayer, courtesy of the Winnipeg Art Gallery.
Spanner's designs included dining and lounge chairs, tables, and modular storage units. The designs were manufactured at Spanner Products Limited, the family-owned woodworking company in Toronto, Canada, which was founded by his grandfather.<ref>{{cite book|last=Wright|first=Virginia|title=Modern Furniture in Canada, 1920 to 1970|year=1997|publisher=University of Toronto Press|isbn=9780802028730|page=130}}</ref> His furniture lines were sold and distributed at department store chains and independent merchants.<ref>{{cite book|last=Fones|first=Robert|title=A Spanner in the Works: The Furniture of Russell Spanner 1950-1953|year=1990|publisher=The Power Plant|isbn=0-921047-60-6}}</ref>
"The ''Ruspan Originals'' line was boxy and geometric, but most of all it was simple, functional and modern, all qualities that appealed to young post-war couples buying furniture for their new houses or apartments."<ref>{{cite book|last=Fones|first=Robert|title=A Spanner in the Works: The Furniture of Russell Spanner 1950-1953|year=1990|publisher=The Power Plant|isbn=0-921047-60-6|page=13}}</ref> Spanner's designs utilized innovative manufacturing techniques such as curved plywood and non-upholstered, woven-web seating. Many of the designs reused components and shared consistent proportions, which gave his work a characteristic aesthetic. Among his three residential furniture lines (Ruspan Originals, Catalina, and Pasadena) the ''Lounge Chair with Arms'' has been described as the "best-known and most desirable" design.<ref>{{cite book|last=Gotlieb|first=Rachel|title=Design in Canada: Fifty Years from Teakettles to Task Chairs|date=10 September 2005 |publisher=Key Porter Books/Design Exchange|isbn=1-55263-631-3|page=74}}</ref>
Spanner was an amateur wrestling champion,<ref>{{cite news|last=Green|first=Doug|title=Why His Furniture is Tough|newspaper=The Winnipeg Tribune|date=May 4, 1953}}</ref> and was known to test the strength of his designs by jumping on them and throwing them across the factory floor.<ref>{{cite news|last=Hornick|first=James|title=Bumps, Jumps, Drops Part of Chair-Testing|newspaper=The Globe and Mail|date=January 12, 1954}}</ref>
== References == {{reflist}}
==External links== {{Archival records|title=Robert Fones records related to Russell Spanner|location=|inventory_number=Fonds 445|description_URL=http://gencat.eloquent-systems.com/torontodetail.html?key=548689|dates=|access_conditions=}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Spanner, Russell}} Category:1916 births Category:1974 deaths Category:Canadian furniture designers
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