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Welcome to Day 5 of a midcentury modern takeover with !⁠In the early 1950s, designer Joel Robinson was poised for a no...
07/24/2025

Welcome to Day 5 of a midcentury modern takeover with !⁠

In the early 1950s, designer Joel Robinson was poised for a notable career in design after his Ovals textiles were featured in The Museum of Modern Art’s 1950–55 Good Design shows, in which MoMA prescribed “good” modern design to the American consumer. Winning submissions were bestowed with Good Design tags at retail stores, visibly marking MoMA’s institutional stamp of approval. Joel Robinson was notably featured in three of the five Good Design shows, where he was the only Black designer selected.

His textiles, which include Glen Plaid, Ovals #1 and #2, Roman Candle, and Honeycomb, were produced by New York-based textile manufacturer L. Anton Maix Fabrics. Like most of the Robinson textiles for Maix, Glen Plaid is screen-printed on a cotton plain weave. The design features overlapping rectangles of varying sizes, shape, and colors that play with the viewer’s eye. Glen Plaid’s yellow, red, and brown color scheme adds a warm depth to the geometric, exacting design.

By the mid-1950s, it appears that Robinson pivoted away from textile design and toward advertising and art direction, working with David D. Polo Advertising Agency, Mego, Manhattan School of Printing, the National Distillers Products Company, and others. It is unclear whether this career change was of his own volition or whether the discriminatory nature of the design industry pushed him away.

Robinson's Glen Plaid textile is a part of the collection at Cranbrook Art Museum and is currently on view as part of their summer exhibition, “Eventually Everything Connects: Mid-Century Modern Design in the US” through September 21, 2025.

Joel Robinson, Glen Plaid, 1952. L. Anton Maix Fabrics. Screen-printed cotton. Photo: PD Rearick

Welcome to Day 4 of a midcentury modern takeover with !⁠Greta Magnusson Grossman had an impressive and varied career i...
07/23/2025

Welcome to Day 4 of a midcentury modern takeover with !⁠

Greta Magnusson Grossman had an impressive and varied career in industrial design, architecture, and interior design. Born in Helsingborg, Sweden, Magnusson Grossman made a name for herself in the Swedish design scene before immigrating to Los Angeles in 1940. After arriving in Los Angeles, Magnusson Grossman merged both Scandinavian and Californian modernism, creating a hybrid aesthetic that is present in her design work for Ralph O. Smith, Glenn of California, and others.

One of Magnusson Grossman’s most famous designs is the Grasshopper Lamp. The floor lamp was designed in 1947 for Ralph O. Smith, a small Californian lighting manufacturer. The Grasshopper Lamp is instantly recognizable for its enameled aluminum tripod base. The base slants backward dramatically, and the leaned pose creates the sense that the lamp is poised to leap into motion. The thin, spindly base engenders the insect-like appearance that the lamp is named for. Its bullet-like, elongated conical shade bends to direct the light where the user needs.

Grossman’s Grasshopper Lamp is a part of the collection at Cranbrook Art Museum and is currently on view as part of their summer exhibition, “Eventually Everything Connects: Mid-Century Modern Design in the US” through September 21, 2025.

Greta Magnusson Grossman. Grasshopper Lamp, 1947. Manufactured by Ralph O. Smith. Enameled aluminum. Photo: PD Rearick
Grasshopper Lamp in the exhibition, “Eventually Everything Connects: Mid-Century Modern Design in the US” at Cranbrook Art Museum.

Welcome to Day 3 of a midcentury modern takeover with !⁠Marilyn Neuhart was a graphic designer in Los Angeles. She beg...
07/22/2025

Welcome to Day 3 of a midcentury modern takeover with !⁠

Marilyn Neuhart was a graphic designer in Los Angeles. She began designing and sewing dolls while she and her husband, graphic designer John Neuhart, were working for the Eames Office. Comprised of bright and whimsical creatures such as angels, lions, mermaids, owls, and sheep, many of the dolls bore sweet, hand-embroidered hearts and flowers. The unique dolls quickly caught the attention of Ray Eames, and in 1959 she sent a sample doll to designer Alexander Girard who was immediately enamored with Marilyn’s work.

Meanwhile, Girard was designing a new showroom for Herman Miller: the Textiles & Objects shop. Girard carefully curated each element of the shop, from its products and furniture to his hand-selection of craft and folk art. Marilyn’s dolls were perfect for the shop’s aesthetic which privileged handicraft, and thus she was commissioned to create 100 dolls for Textiles & Objects’ opening day in May of 1961. The hand-sewn dolls were popular at the shop, and eventually Marilyn created a DIY kit so customers could make their own Neuhart dolls. Over the course of a few years, it is estimated that Marilyn produced roughly 2,000 dolls.

Neuhart’s Dolls are a part of the collection at Cranbrook Art Museum and is currently on view as part of their summer exhibition, “Eventually Everything Connects: Mid-Century Modern Design in the US” through September 21, 2025.

Marilyn Neuhart’s Dolls (trio), c. 1961, as displayed in Cranbrook Art Museum’s exhibition, “Eventually Everything Connects: Mid-Century Modern Design in the US.” Linen, wool, silk. Photos: Danielle deo Owensby

Welcome to Day 2 of a midcentury modern takeover with !Bill Lam is an underrecognized pioneer of architectural lightin...
07/21/2025

Welcome to Day 2 of a midcentury modern takeover with !

Bill Lam is an underrecognized pioneer of architectural lighting. In 1949, he graduated from Massachusetts Institute of Technology with a degree in architecture. While studying at MIT, Lam was heavily inspired by visiting professors Alvar Aalto and Charles Eames. This early influence caused Lam to pivot toward architectural lighting, a newly emerging genre of practice.

Soon after graduating from MIT, Lam designed his first lamp. The design was met with immediate enthusiasm from his peers, driving him to found the Lam Workshop of Somerville, Massachusetts in 1949. Like Charles and Ray Eames, Lam was a pioneer of fiberglass, utilizing the material in his glare-free lamps and light diffusers.

Designed in 1950, this Lam Workshop table lamp is a shallow drum of molded fiberglass mounted on three oak legs. The fiberglass shade acted as a light diffuser, producing a soft, warm glow. The lamp was often referred to as a “Lite Table” due to the shade’s flat, even top. Thus, the design was both a table lamp and an illuminated table, as evidenced in one advertisement that boasted champagne flutes seated atop it.

As the brand grew, Lam found himself compelled to return to architecture, thus founding William Lam Associates in 1961. This signaled a shift away from stand-alone product design and towards architectural consultancy on built-in lighting systems. Over the remainder of his career, Lam consulted for architects and urban planners on over 2000 projects.

Lam's Lite Table is a part of the collection at Cranbrook Art Museum and is currently on view as part of their summer exhibition, “Eventually Everything Connects: Mid-Century Modern Design in the US” through September 21, 2025.

William Ming Cheong Lam (also known as Bill Lam), Lite Table, c. 1950. Manufactured by Lam Workshop. Fiberglass and oak. Photos: PD Rearick

Welcome to a very exciting takeover with the . The Cranbrook will be sharing with us 9 days of rare, spectacular midce...
07/20/2025

Welcome to a very exciting takeover with the . The Cranbrook will be sharing with us 9 days of rare, spectacular midcentury modern treasures in support of their upcoming exhibition “Eventually Everything Connects: Mid-Century Modern Design in the US."⁠
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In the mid-1940s, Japanese American designer Ray Komai began his prolific and multi-faceted career in furniture, textile, wallpaper, and graphic design. This included furniture for JG Furniture, textiles and wallpapers for Laverne Originals, 46 covers for Architectural Forum, and extensive work for the United States Information Service.⁠
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Komai’s venture into furniture design was brief. In the late 1940s and early 1950s, he designed several pieces for J.G. Furniture Company, a New York-based manufacturer founded in the 1920s. The most recognizable of these pieces is his one-piece molded plywood side chair. Designed in 1949, Komai’s chair contextualizes the Eameses’ more famous experiments in molded plywood which resulted in their 1946 LCW Chair for Herman Miller. Komai’s molded plywood chair demonstrates the rapid proliferation of material experimentation in the postwar period. ⁠
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The chair exemplifies the shift toward lightweight, easily transportable furniture designs to suit the evolving mid-century home. The chair’s hollow chrome-plated steel legs make the design extremely lightweight. The design was offered in walnut, dark mahogany, and light woods and could also be upholstered. ⁠
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Despite the positive reception garnered by his chair, Komai retreated from designing furniture by the early 1950s—a somewhat baffling decision given the popularity of the design. Thus, the chair captures a pivotal moment in Komai’s career before he fully transitioned toward graphic design work. ⁠
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Komai’s Side Chair is a part of the collection at Cranbrook Art Museum and is currently on view as part of their summer exhibition, “Eventually Everything Connects: Mid-Century Modern Design in the US” through September 21, 2025.⁠
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Ray Komai, JG Furniture Company, Side Chair, Steel and plywood,1949⁠

For her Spring 1940 collection, Elsa Schiaparelli produced a fragrance called “Sleeping,” in this candle-and-snuffer sha...
07/19/2025

For her Spring 1940 collection, Elsa Schiaparelli produced a fragrance called “Sleeping,” in this candle-and-snuffer shaped packaging, which was marketed as a bedside perfume bottle to be spritzed at night.

Schiaparelli, “Sleeping” perfume, Glass bottle with metal “snuffer,” c. 1940,


Since 1922, The Magazine ANTIQUES has explored the world of collecting, with inspiring profiles, groundbreaking research, unexpected genres, and consequential commentary

This little cravat could be the work of none other than Grinling Gibbons, Britain’s foremost wood carver to the rich and...
07/18/2025

This little cravat could be the work of none other than Grinling Gibbons, Britain’s foremost wood carver to the rich and famous in the 17th century. Few could match Gibbons’s skill, exemplified here in his incredible attention to detail, reproducing the fine threads of Venetian lace in limewood. This piece was likely made as an example to show potential customers the fineness of his work.

Grinling Gibbons, Cravat, Limewood, c. 1690,


Since 1922, The Magazine ANTIQUES has explored the world of collecting, with inspiring profiles, groundbreaking research, unexpected genres, and consequential commentary

In the Victorian era, many women wore their hair in elaborate styles, accented with a hat or decorative comb. Designer P...
07/17/2025

In the Victorian era, many women wore their hair in elaborate styles, accented with a hat or decorative comb. Designer Philippe Wolfers created a total of nine designs for hair combs, but many have not survived. This exquisite example comes from the collection of Belgium’s Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts and is accompanied by Wolfers’s original design drawing for the comb, with a delicate bird and iris design.

Philippe Wolfers, Hair comb, Gold, enamel, Brazilian opal and rock crystal, 1899, Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique, Brussels


Since 1922, The Magazine ANTIQUES has explored the world of collecting, with inspiring profiles, groundbreaking research, unexpected genres, and consequential commentary

The holds a number of architectural elements from Louis Comfort Tiffany’s estate Laurelton Hall, including this magnifi...
07/16/2025

The holds a number of architectural elements from Louis Comfort Tiffany’s estate Laurelton Hall, including this magnificent daffodil capital. It once held pride of place on the “Daffodil Terrace,” which Tiffany styled as an outdoor room, bedecked with lifelike glass daffodils.

Louis Comfort Tiffany (Designer), Tiffany Studios (Manufacturer), Daffodil capital from Laurelton Hall, Cast and cut glass, concrete, c. 1915,


Since 1922, The Magazine ANTIQUES has explored the world of collecting, with inspiring profiles, groundbreaking research, unexpected genres, and consequential commentary

Now on our website: the remarkable collection of a patient collector.Nestled within a historic village in Midcoast Maine...
07/15/2025

Now on our website: the remarkable collection of a patient collector.

Nestled within a historic village in Midcoast Maine stands a quintessential two-story New England clapboard house built in 1783. The owner/collector has accumulated objects piecemeal, but scrupulously, throughout his career, exploring all the pre-industrial periods and finding himself drawn to material made during the first half of the nineteenth century.

Now, with , the collection will help to tell the story of rural Maine life and celebrate pre-industrial artisans for their innate skills, inventive artistry, and craftsmanship.

Read "The Patient Collector" at https://www.themagazineantiques.com/article/the-patient-collector/

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Liberty & Co. partnered with arts and crafts designer Archibald Knox in the early 20th century to sell two notable lines...
07/15/2025

Liberty & Co. partnered with arts and crafts designer Archibald Knox in the early 20th century to sell two notable lines of Celtic-inspired home decor: the Cymric and Tudric lines. While the Cymric line was mostly sleek adornments in silver, objects like this clock from the Tudric line were crafted in pewter, with a more reasonable price tag for the average middle-class consumer.

Archibald Knox, Clock, Pewter, enamel, c. 1905,


Since 1922, The Magazine ANTIQUES has explored the world of collecting, with inspiring profiles, groundbreaking research, unexpected genres, and consequential commentary

Have a seat. This iconic chair exudes the flamboyant style of Carlo Bugatti, the turn-of-the-century Italian designer wh...
07/13/2025

Have a seat. This iconic chair exudes the flamboyant style of Carlo Bugatti, the turn-of-the-century Italian designer who blurred the line between fine and applied arts. Bugatti put his creative, eccentric stamp on many artforms, from jewelry to musical instruments.

Carlo Bugatti, Tall chair, Ebonized wood, walnut, vellum over wood, copper, white metal inlay, bone, fibers, c. 1895,


Since 1922, The Magazine ANTIQUES has explored the world of collecting, with inspiring profiles, groundbreaking research, unexpected genres, and consequential commentary

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Since its inception in 1922, The Magazine ANTIQUES has been America’s premier publication on the fine and decorative arts, architecture, preservation, and interior design. Each bimonthly issue includes regular columns on current exhibitions, personalities in the field, notes on collecting, book reviews, and more.