Furniture

Streamline Collection...

Kem Weber Design...

Kem Weber, one of America's great modernist evokes a scene straight out of Buck Rodgers in the 21st century. The Kem Weber triple band set is an icon of modern design. The new and updated durable and carefree stainless steel construction allows for a lasting heirloom for future generations to come.

The original Kem Weber chair and sofa were designed in 1934, manufactured by Lloyd Manufacturing Company of Menominee, Michigan. Production of this furniture ceased in 1941 with the onslaught of World War II. Original pieces are nearly impossible to find and condition is poor and difficult to repair.

Modernage feels as if the improved construction method on the recreation of the Kem Weber seating is superior to the original; substituting highly polished stainless steel tubing for the chrome plated steel tubing Weber used, and all the joints are welded as opposed to riveted.

With the addition of a loveseat and ottoman never before offered allows for
more flexible seating arrangements than the original predecessor. The chair's sensuous lines combine well with any interior design concept and is extremely comfortable.

Moderneage...Kem Weber Design...

Chair 29"W x 42"D x 31"H
Ottoman 29"W x 22"D x 17"H
Loveseat 52"Wx 42"Dx 31"H
Sofa 75"W x 42"D x 31"H

Donald Deskey is doubtless one of the leading figures in Amerian Industrial Design. Inspired by the European Art Deco style, Minnesota-born Donald Deskey (1894-1989) helped establish a look that became known as "Streamlined Modern." The Paris Exhibition of 1925 inspired him to start his own company and he moved to New York in 1926.

Deskey took on many professional personas throughout the 1930s and 1940s, as a furniture, interior, graphic and industrial designer. He created objects as diverse as pianos, clocks, radios, slot machines, and industrial laminates. After settling down in New York he established a design consulting firm and partnered with Phillip Vollmer soon after to start Deskey-Vollmer, a company geared more towards furniture and textile design. The result of this arrangement was that Deskey produced a number of pieces of furniture, although many of them were made for a specific space and client. Among his high profile commissions were John D. Rockefeller's Manhattan apartment and, on a larger scale, the interiors of Radio City Music Hall, executed in 1932-33. Deskey won the chance to design the latter in a competition, his proposal promising a modern theater to best the opulent movie palaces of the period. His lush deco interior proved perfect. He also designed the window displays for many of the 5th Avenue department stores, using screens he fabricated in linoleum, cork and bakelite.

The furniture that survives today is mainly from the late 1920s and 1930s and oscillates stylistically between minimalist, rigidly geometric structures and those that are more biomorphic and abstract. A 1927 console, for example, has three undulant tiers of walnut with aluminum edges, while a 1929 chair from a beauty parlor is all right angles, with a thickly upholstered rectangular seat and back. A 1927 desk lamp made of descending triangles is the more decorative kin of a standing lamp from the mid 1930s with a long tubular base and a simple cube shaped white shade. He worked extensively with chrome, aluminum and bakelite, innovative materials that anchored his work in the modern aesthetic. Deskey exhibited award-winning entries at the 1937 Paris Exhibition as well as showing his work at the 1939 New York World's Fair.

Moderneage is focusing on Deskey's seating groups from Royalchrome and his oppulent designs at Radio City Music Hall. Moderneage can create custom pieces inspired by Deskey's Radio City influence. Please email your requests or questions.