A Nascent Project
While Arkana and Vecta occupied the spotlight between the 60’s and early 70’s, Maurice was again planning ahead for a new family company. Initial design work for what would become the Macrima M1 and M2 dining set began in 1970 when Duncan joined the design team at Abbeyville, adding his own Ministool to Macrima’s future catalogue. While Duncan was occupied overseeing the preliminary work molds for these new designs - concurrent with working on the Orbita for Arkana - Maurice looked for a new location to base the company. This time, it would be the small French border town of Bischwiller; a much closer location to Maurice’s own base of operations in Switzerland. Taking advantage of economic incentive programs by the French government, by the early 70’s Macrima entered the final stages of preparation for production, as well as securing an American manufacturer 1972 to ensure simultaneous releases in both markets.
La Laub: former town hall, now a museum in Bischwiller France. Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
Laying the Groundwork
In 1973, Macrima was set to begin full scale production of its initial offerings: The M1 and M2 series were essentially the last iterations on Maurice’s Mushroom chairs, aimed at refining problems he had perceived with the lack of leg room created by the original Mushroom’s conical bases. Meanwhile, the single piece Ministool designed by Duncan would fill a wide variety of rolls thanks to its simple design, appealing aesthetic, and light weight and portability making it suitable for anything from restaurant seating, to studio and workshop use. Simultaneously, along with licensing American production of the Mushroom furniture designed for Arkana, Houston based manufacturer Hollen Inc. would bring the Ministool to the US as the Series 21 stool. But world events had other ideas.
A Hanno marketing brochure for the Series 21 Stool. Duncan’s design would be the only Macrima product ever mass produced.
Disaster Strikes
On October 6th, 1973, An Arab coalition from across the Middle East invaded Israeli occupied territories in an attempt to reverse the disasters suffered during the 1967 Six Day War. And while this fourth Arab-Israeli conflict was over by the 25th of the same month, the fallout from it had only just begun. In retaliation for supporting Israel during the war, the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) initiated an embargo on much of the western world, including the US. For the Burkes, and the fledgling Macrima, the timing could not have been worse. Overnight the cost of materials for their opening lines of furniture more than doubled, erasing any economic viability for the company. With the embargo continuing well into 1974, Macrima essentially ceased to exist; producing only a handful of production prototypes, promotional images, and sales brochures.
Stateside, the story was only marginally better. Hollen Inc. collapsed under similar conditions as Macrima, but was initially saved in part by a buyout from another manufacturer, Hanno. Thus while the M1 or M2 died with Macrima, Duncan’s Ministool would see at least a modest production run under Hanno as the Series 21 stool until the late 1970’s. And while the Burke’s designs would continue in various forms at different manufacturer’s, it would be over half a decade before one final Burke company saw the light of day.
