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.





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