The Beginnings of Modernism in American Furniture

Welcome back to our ongoing series, "How to tell Real Vintage Furniture from Contemporary Knockoffs". In our last post, we discussed how to distinguish Danish mid century furniture from American.

Within the realms of Danish and American furniture, there is still a very broad range of possibilities, from the rarest, highest end pieces imaginable, to the lowest end, most commonplace "dime a dozen" factory made furniture.

As an aside, do keep in mind that in this discussion of "low end" vs. "high end" vintage modern furniture, by referring to "low end" furniture, we are not trying to disparage it. We understand that not everyone has the means to be able to afford the desirable, higher end pieces that we like to talk about, and while we may not spend a great deal of time discussing or dealing with the lower end vintage stuff, most of it is still well-made, entirely serviceable furniture that is suitable for use in many living situations.

Also keep in mind that even if you can only afford what we deem to be "lower end" vintage furniture, by choosing this option over some cheaply made, ultimately disposable new piece of furniture, you are participating in "recycling" of the highest order, which is definitely something to be proud of. You can even think of lower end vintage pieces as sort of a "gateway drug" - get started with something easily manageable and easy on the wallet, and graduate little by little to more serious (and more expensive) stuff!

A (very) Brief History of American Modern Furniture
The Modernist movement in US furniture making can be traced to the end of WWII, and the building across the country of countless clean-lined, unfussy ranch-style homes. US furniture makers clearly saw an opportunity to capitalize on this new aesthetic, and started churning out simpler, clean-lined furniture to match this new style of home that was becoming increasingly popular among the middle class.

Although the roots of Modernism can be traced back to Art Deco furniture of the 1920s and 1930s and, more significantly, the "International Style" espoused by European architects like Mies Van der Rohe and Marcel Breuer, it really wasn't until the late 1940s that Modernism really started to catch on in the American public consciousness. Most of the companies that we are going to discuss had been been in existence since the early 20th century, producing mainly antique reproductions. For instance, both Dunbar and Herman Miller had been dabbling in Modernist furniture since the early 1930s, but it wasn't until the mid to late 1940s that both companies decided to turn their backs on the antique reproductions and fully embrace a Modernist aesthetic.Below are two examples of this early "proto-modernism" - a pair of Rosewood chests by Gilbert Rohde for Herman Miller, below, and a desk by Edward Wormley for Dunbar, below that.

At first blush, both of the above pieces could easily be mistaken for Art Deco, but upon further inspection, you will notice the overarching simplicity that defines both of these pieces. The forms are very much rooted in the Art Deco tradition, but the details are very much in the modern idiom.

As Modernism grew and evolved throughout the 1940s and 1950s, certain companies grew to represent a more cutting edge version of modernism, while others, for the most part, stayed fairly close to the more traditional Art Deco influenced styles shown above. In our next post, we will start to explore some of these companies in greater detail.

Sorting the Wheat from the Chaff

Welcome back to our ongoing series, "How to tell 'Real' Vintage Furniture from Contemporary Knockoffs". So, using the steps outlined in our previous posts in this series (here, here, and here) you've determined that the piece of furniture that you want to buy is in fact vintage. However, just because it's vintage doesn't mean that it's necessarily worth buying - there are many other things to consider before you make the decision to plunk down your hard earned dollars! Today we're going to get started on the discussion of differentiating between "good" vintage and "bad" vintage. This is a fairly deep topic that's worth spending some time on, because it really cuts to the heart of what we vintage decorative arts dealers actually DO for a living.

The funny thing is, whether or not a given object or piece of furniture is "good" or not is largely subjective. However, we are not completely lost at sea with this - there are certain attributes that a piece may or may not have which we can use to determine whether or not it is "good".

Chief among these are

• designer provenance (i.e. whether it was designed by a "major" or known designer)
• manufacturer provenance (what company made the piece)
• overall quality of construction and aesthetic sensibility

When one is unable to determine who the designer or maker of a piece was, we can always fall back on the quality of construction and aesthetic sensibility to make our decision on whether the piece is worth buying.

Names and Faces
As you start shopping for vintage furniture, you will start to notice that there are lots of brand names and designers that get thrown about willy-nilly by people in the know. If you're serious about collecting vintage furniture, one of the first things you're going to want to do is familiarize yourself with some of these names. Brand names, or manufacturers, are generally easier to familiarize one's self with than designers, simply because many pieces of furniture made by a given furniture maker are marked as such.

There are certain manufacturers that are synonymous with high end design, which we will discuss in greater depth in our next post. However, before we get to the discussion of the actual company that manufactured the piece, we're going to want to consider where the piece was actually made. The two main countries that you're likely to see pieces come out of are the USA and Denmark, so those are the two we will focus on here.

As an aside, it should be noted that a certain amount of "Danish Modern" furniture was produced in the other Scandinavian countries (Sweden, Norway and Finland), but the large majority of it was actually made in the tiny country of Denmark (if there was ever a competition for the number of pieces of furniture produced per capita, Denmark would surely take first prize). Although a significant amount of furniture of this era was produced in Sweden, for the most part it is relatively interchangeable with furniture that was actually produced in Denmark.

Here are some key differences between Scandinavian and American mid century furniture

• 9 times out of 10, if it's made out of teak, it's Scandinavian.
• 9 times out of 10, if it's made out of walnut, it's American.

At least initially, it can be difficult to tell the difference between teak and walnut. Broadly, walnut will be more brown while teak will be more red. Also, walnut grain tends to be broader and more distinct, while teak is usually tighter with shorter grain marks. Of course there are exceptions, for the most part these rules hold true. We've included images of "typical" teak and walnut grain patterns below:

• In mid century furniture, lighter woods such as maple and birch are more commonly associated with American makers. For instance, all Heywood Wakefield furniture produced in the 1940s and 1950s was made from solid American yellow birch, and all Paul McCobb Planner Group furniture was made from solid maple (although it was often stained darker).
• Be aware that while the above mentioned woods will cover perhaps 70% of mid century furniture, the remaining 30% is comprised of a sometimes-confusing hodgepodge of different woods such as Rosewood, Mahogany, Oak, Elm, Ash, Cherry, and others. It should also be noted that frequently, lighter woods that have been stained dark will be identified as Walnut by people who don't know any better. However, once you get familiar with what real walnut looks like, it's easy to tell the difference. We will explain these differences in greater depth in a future blog post.

• When looking at dressers, American made dressers tend to have deeper drawers than Danish dressers. So much so, that while vintage Danish dressers can be very pretty to look at, they are often not very practical to use because the drawers are so shallow. We have come to the conclusion that in Denmark, they do not store sweaters in dresser drawers.

• As a general rule, Danish furniture usually has more "sculptural" qualities than American. For example, consider the two credenzas pictured above. Both are long and low, and basically the same shape. However, notice how the details on the Danish piece are much finer - how the corners are rounded and come together at 45 degree angles, how the legs are nicely shaped and curved so as to flow out of the case rather than just sticking out of it. The handles for the doors are also carved pieces of wood that echo the sculptural qualities present in the rest of the piece. The American piece is much more boxy and workmanlike - compare the corners on the cases of both pieces and you will see the difference.

Stay tuned for our next installment, when we will go into greater detail talking about some of the major American furniture makers that you should know about!

Janus Home Stages a House!

3205 NE FREMONT ST, PORTLAND, OR 97212

We are very pleased to be finished with our very first home staging job! And what a canvas we had to stage - a 1951 mid-century marvel designed and built by noted Portland architect Kenneth Birkmeier! Although Birkmeier was responsible for quite a few homes in the NE Portland area in the late 1940s-1950s, this particular home has the distinction of being the one that he built for his own family to reside in. Boasting truly stunning south-facing 180 degree views from the floor to ceiling windows in the living room and dining room, this home is enough to make any lover of mid-century style salivate! Anything but your typical ranch home, this one has the loving touch of a craftsman written all over it.

Our take on this home was to bring in elements of vintage style, using all vintage furniture and artwork with a few new accessories to round everything out. This home is glamorous and stately, and we tried to echo that feeling with sophistocated, glamorous, yet practical furnishings that not only look great, but that one could actually live with (imagine that!).

If you're interested in further investigating this home, you can go here. You will also see some "before" pictures and see how it looked like before we got to it (although the living room furniture that you see in these photos, which isn't too bad, was NOT in the home when we started). The home has been open every Sunday for the last few weeks, and we assume this will continue. If you have any specific questions about the home, or would like to arrange a private showing, please contact the listing agent, Carrie Escobar.

Have any comments? We'd love to hear! We are ramping up to launch a full scale staging business focused specifically on mid century homes, so we'd love to hear your feedback! In the meantime, enjoy the pictures, and go check out the house if you are able!

The entryway. Piero Fornasetti poster, Curtis Jere style metal wall sculpture, pair of white cased glass decanters.

Wide angle view of living room. Faux ostrich sofa with cast aluminum legs, pair of button tufted barrel chairs with walnut bases, stainless and brass end table, root coffee table with biomorphic glass top, pair of Walter Von Nessen brass torchieres.

Wide angle view #2 of living room

Living room, incorporating the fantastic view!

Dining room: Paul McCobb Planner Group drop leaf extension dining table, set of 6 stripped steel industrial chairs with leather seats.

Dining room looking into the kitchen.

Dining room view from kitchen.

Master Bedroom. Milo Baughman for Glenn of California king size bed with attached walnut nightstands, Danish shell slipper chair reupholstered in pink silk, Danish teak stacking tables, Bernard Buffet print.

Master Bedroom #2.

Master Bedroom #3.

Master Bathroom/Master Bedroom.

Upstairs bedroom. Paul McCobb Planner Group rod iron & maple bed, Danish prints, Gabbeh rug.

Upstairs bedroom. Edward Wormley for Drexel dresser/sideboard, Gordon Martz for Marshall Studios table lamp, Danish print.

Office (or 3rd bedroom). Walnut executive desk with ebonized top, modernist oil on canvas by Seiker, Victor Vasarely print, Paul Klee print, Danish Modern lounge chair, reupholstered.

Office #2.

Wide angle view of Den. Danish oil on canvas "Abstraktion Over Fra Angeliko", geometric kilim rug, African drum coffee table, pair of walnut benches reupholstered in spring green velvet, abstract pen & ink by Milton Wilson.

Den #2.

Den #3.