Russell Spanner

{{Short description|Canadian furniture designer}}

{{Infobox person

| name = Russell Spanner

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| occupation = Canadian designer

| known_for = residential furniture design

| birth_date = {{birth year|1916}}

| death_date = {{Death date and age|1974|1916}}

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Russell Spanner (1916–1974) was a Canadian designer who contributed to residential furniture designs in the 1950s.

File:Russell Spanner-Lounge Chair With Arms.png

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.{{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}} His furniture lines were sold and distributed at department store chains and independent merchants.{{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}}

"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."{{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}}

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.{{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}}

Spanner was an amateur wrestling champion,{{cite news|last=Green|first=Doug|title=Why His Furniture is Tough|newspaper=The Winnipeg Tribune|date=May 4, 1953}} and was known to test the strength of his designs by jumping on them and throwing them across the factory floor.{{cite news|last=Hornick|first=James|title=Bumps, Jumps, Drops Part of Chair-Testing|newspaper=The Globe and Mail|date=January 12, 1954}}