mid-century modern

1stdibs.com at the NY Design Center

Filed under: Decor

When 1stdibs.com went from click to brick, it was an overnight success, far beyond what was expected. Until the opening of its new home 1stdibs.com was only online. It was the luxury marketplace site for antique and vintage design from the United States, Canada, France, and England. In other words, a treasure trove of jewelry, lighting, furniture, antiquities and especially design classics that you could buy online. Now 1stdibs has expanded to bricks and mortar. Some 53 dealers occupy a huge 1stdibs space on the 10th floor of the New York Design Center in Midtown Manhattan on Lexington Avenue between 32nd and 33rd streets. With the expansion from virtuality to reality, the new 1stdibs@NYDC is a big hit with designers as well as the general public. The Design Center, which in the past was to-the-trade, decorators only, is now open to the general public even on Saturday.

Tags: 1stdibs, 1stdibs.com, decor, mid-century modern, Modernism, NYDesign Center, vintage

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USM Swiss Furniture To Launch Fall Line

by Michael B. Dougherty (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Decor, By Design

Lauded Swiss furniture manufacturer, USM, has announced a new fall collection to their award-winning modular designs.

Created in 1963, when Swiss engineer Paul Schärer teamed up with architect Fritz Haller to design furniture for his family business's new offices, USM's modernist lines and functionality made it an unexpected darling of Mid-Century design. Now part of the Museum of Modern Art's permanent collection in New York, USM has evolved into a furniture system of near limitless possibility, equally at home in an office, retail or residential setting. While the term "modular" may evoke images of dorm rooms and a certain ubiquitous Swedish brand, USM is much closer to a Patek Philippe watch or a Hans Bellmann chair in terms of aesthetics and construction. The basic element of USM is a chrome-plated brass ball joint, which connects to chromed steal tubes to form the framework of the line. From there, powder-coated metal panels, in a variety of historic and contemporary colors, can easily and quickly be popped in and out to complete the piece. Panels come in a wide selection of sizes, and when you include the various door options and internal organizer configurations, the possibilities with USM become manifold. Indeed, USM enthusiasts (the line is collected with the zeal normally reserved for high fashion or fine art) have created arrangements that form everything from retail clothing displays to Mondrian-like storage walls by mixing-and-matching color panels. New for fall 2010, USM will introduce a line of autumnal colors including orange, brown and beige, which haven't been available to customers since the 1970s.

(prices start at $500)

Tags: fall, furniture, Industrial Design, mid-century modern, modular, switzerland, usm

Charlton Modern, Estate of the Day

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Estates, Celebrity Shopping

How much mid-century Modern can you stand? That's the question when looking at this unique home in the Hancock Park area of Los Angeles. The home belongs to Janet Charlton, a woman I idolized when I was a teenager and thought being a gossip columnist would be just about the best job in the world. Charlton was the gossip queen of Star magazine for many years. She purchased this home in 1997 for a reported $540,000. The home has been used for all sorts of photos and film shoots (including serving as Annette Benning's home in the recent movie "Running With Scissors"). It's easy to see why it would be chosen as a location, it's absolutely perfectly of the period. Which is of course the problem. As the Real Estalker Mama and his commenters have noted it's all just too much, it looks like a vintage furniture store that caters to hipster doofuses. It's all too much of a theme. The individual furniture pieces such as the Eero Saarinen Tulip chairs are all fine but put the whole shebang together and it just seems more like a two-dimensional set than the place where you kick back and cuddle up with a book and a glass of wine after a hard day. Liveable is not a word that applies here. Although I must confess a secret and shameful lust for those giant dice in the stereo room.

The five-bedroom home does have a nice open floor plan (although that tiny kitchen is suited only for those who enjoy drinking their dinner) and there is a lovely pool with a cabana. The home is listed at $2.995 million which might be a bit optimistic but this place could be a stunner in the right hands. If only Ellen DeGeneres would swoop in with her magic team of designers and rescue this place.

Gallery: Charlton Modern