The Fun of Collecting

Nancy Tabor

Collecting has always been a family tradition. I’ve taken great pleasure in collecting everything from antique toys, playbills: and paintings to furniture. I enjoy the investigation and research as well the pleasure of being able to see these things on a day-to-day basis. In the past 10 years, I noticed a trend where Mid-Century Modern furniture, particularly chairs (https://www.chairish.com/maker/the-george-nelson-collection) became more popular. Near where I grew up, some stores were featuring it and others had it as part of their collection. It’s been great to stop by and check out to see what’s on tap.

I have some pieces of Mid-Century Modern furniture like a Heywood Wakefield Dining Set and a set of steelcase Mies van der Rohe chairs. This peaked my interest to read more about the history of Mid-Century Modern and what got my attention were some chairs I’d really like to add to my collection. Ben Marks, in his article entitled “Mid-Century Modern Furniture, from Marshmallow Sofas to Hans Wegner Chairs” (http://www.collectorsweekly.com/articles/an-interview-with-20th-century-decorative-arts-and-mid-century-modern-expert-frank-maraschiello/) 

gives an excellent overview and discussion of specifics from the era:

Mid-century Modern used the technology of mass production to produce good-looking pieces of furniture out of the latest materials. A number of these materials became commonplace after World War II, so the idea was to make things affordable. These were not “custom-made pieces.” When you bought a Tiffany lamp, even though that was a production piece in its day, it was also a handmade piece that cost as much as $500.

I was enamored with his discussion of Ray and Charles Eames “innovative chairs of the 20^th century.” (http://www.collectorsweekly.com/furniture/eames).  The following information came from an interview the author did with Frank Maraschiello, the vice president of the 20th-Century Decorative Arts department at Bonham’s, New York.  The chairs are constructed of a variety of materials. He looks at why two of the Eames Chairs, the plywood and the fiberglass, are so well thought of today. The bent plywood chairs were not a new idea when they started doing it; they had been doing it for 100 years. The chair was shipped flat and portable and was well tested. Being that it was constructed with only wood and a medal frame, it held up well.

By extension was the fiberglass chair, which was molded and more streamlined and faster in mass production. Because fiberglass was a continuous piece made from a molded piece from an economic view it was much more reasonable. 

I have seen these chair on ebay and many are very affordable. Also mentioned in the commentary is that these types of chairs were made popular at Ikea and much more affordable and brought more awareness and appreciation for that type of furniture.