MassModern / Mid-Century Modern Design - Frank Lloyd Wright

11/14/2018

For anyone near Boston, I’ll be giving a lecture this weekend about the furniture of Frank Lloyd Wright and Eliel Saarinen, and specifically how each translated their client specific “bespoke” work into significant production furniture collections. Here’s a chair Saarinen did for his own living room, of which a very limited (maybe 20) number of authorized repros were done, one of which I found last month! Let me know if you’d like details about the lecture, or the chair!

08/06/2018

At either the October 1985 or April 1986 I was at the High Point furniture show when this cabinet by Mastercraft was introduced. Mastercraft tended toward contemporary (modernist) designs, but to me the very strong neo-classical elements clearly move toward the post-modern, which was all the rage at the time. I would love to own one of these cabinets.

From the press release: The large, elaborate china cabinet, from the Mastercraft division of Baker Furniture, is designed with neo-classic elements --- black glass pilasters and brass capitals --- that are dramatically combined with rare East Indian satinwood veneers. W 72 x D 19 x H 94.

02/07/2018

This chair was originally designed by iconic French 20th Century designer Pierre Paulin in 1984 for Francois Mitterand’s Presidential Office at the Elysee Palace. The chairs were re-issued in a very limited edition in the US in 1988. I have four of the approximately 40 produced. I'm re-locating in about a month, and working to lighten the load before the move! Give a knock knock for more info. Apologies for not such great photography.

01/26/2018

The photography of our Acclaim 900-07 Tables was woefully out of date. Since that original pair, we've probably had ten pairs go through. I've developed an additional business category, “Main Street by MassModern." Acclaim fits into this category, as do many other popular collections. We did an especially good restoration, and new photos are in order, especially for the signature tables of the entire Acclaim Collection. People seem to be rather fond to these tables, and besides, I like to share current projects.

04/11/2017

Last week I completed the restoration of this great -7 cabinet by Eliel Saarinen for the "Flexible Home Arrangements" collection, 1939. I'm really pleased with how this came out; lots of lacquer coats and lots of hand rubbing. I've written an extensive collector guide about the collection (80+ total pages) and its relation to Cranbrook; questions about the group are welcome!

02/03/2017

Folks still love Acclaim from Lane, perhaps now more than ever. We had an exhibit of Acclaim in 2009, and now we keep an eye out mostly for the very special pieces such as this boomerang table. It's available ;).

02/03/2017

It's time for a couple of updates from MassModern! The first here is a fresh pair of arm less chairs, maker sort of unknown. We've had the style before (yellow). They've been attributed before to Leslie Diamond for Conant Ball, but if anybody has information on the style, it would be great to hear!

04/28/2016

When I interned at Baker in the 1980's I had the benefit of working with Bill Dozema at Mastercraft. Bill and his brother Charles had sold their company to Baker in the mid-1970's, but Bill continued as the product designer. As far as I know, in these later years Bill was the only designer. I've never heard tell of any other product designer at Mastercraft since the company started in 1947.

Bernhard Rohne, often credited with Mastercraft designs, is actually an artist working in metal, based in Vancouver. It was Bernhard who supplied beautiful acid etched metal accents which were for many years a very distinctive feature on many Mastercraft pieces (1969 - 1981). For example, the sideboard photo I've included is a Dozema design, utilizing acid etched panels done by Rohne.

We recently acquired a beautiful Mastercraft console table from the 1980's, in exceptional condition. I'll hate to part with this one.

04/28/2016

A interesting pair of Lane tables, circa 1960 recently refinished and moved from the shop to the gallery. I don't know anything (at all) about these tables or this group. Anybody else?

03/24/2016

Our interest in other mid-20th Century architects continues, including the work of Eliel Saarinen. This chest of drawers was designed by Saarinen and members of his family, with introduction in 1939 by Johnson Furniture of Grand Rapids.

03/24/2016

Our latest Frank Lloyd Wright designed dining table is in terrific condition, and matches nicely with a set of four chairs from the collection.

12/18/2011

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