Mid2Mod: John Van Koert

Showing posts with label John Van Koert. Show all posts

Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Profile perfection

I have a John Van Koert Drexel Profile dining set and china cabinet in my home, so I know I have a bias...but I think the new Profile desk and chair in our store are breathtaking.

Since I've admitted my bias, I might as well elaborate. I have a personal preference for the Drexel Profile desk we have now over the Broyhill Brasilia desk we sold recently. Don't get me wrong; Brasilia is beautiful, and I know many of you are diehard fans, but I'm beginning to find it a little overdone, although I admit that might be because I see so much of it at our store. For the past few years, owning a piece of Brasilia has almost become de rigueur in mid-century homes, and while that doesn't detract from the good looks of the line, for me it diminishes the appeal. I'd rather not have something that everyone else has.

I find the lines of Profile pieces fluid and graceful and the sculptural silver plated pulls subtle and elegant. Overall, the Profile desk looks and feels like a finer piece of furniture to me than its Brasilia counterpart. Tapered legs curve gently into the back of the chair, whose delicately spindled back belies its sturdy durability. Best of all, you won't find Profile pieces in every antique mall.

Drexel catalog

Pulls on my Profile K50 china cabinet

Profile catalog

Profile desk and side chair
mid2mod.com

Close-up of silver plated Profile pull
1stdibs.com

Profile catalog

Profile dining set
1stdibs.com

Profile catalog

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Counterpoint

I was looking online at John Van Koert designs and stumbled upon an 80-piece mahogany and cherry furniture collection he designed for Drexel called Counterpoint, which I'd never seen before.

instappraisal.com

A little research turned up a 1956 Drexel ad for the line, so apparently it predates his Profile line for the same company.

I was completely smitten by this small dresser/chest when I found it on eBay.

Drexel Counterpoint chest
ebay.com - atomic-lipstick

...but not so much by this one, which seems a bit too traditional. If Van Koert had added the wing-like extensions to the large dresser, I would have loved it too.

Drexel Counterpoint dresser
modernlove20.com

I was surprised to see that Van Koert made only a few changes to the Counterpoint dining table and chairs and called it Profile in a later incarnation.

Drexel Counterpoint dining set
use.com

See how similar it is to the later Profile dining set? He did refine the design somewhat and make the dowels in the seat back much smaller.

My Drexel Profile dining set

Personally, I prefer the pulls on the Profile set. Their shape seems more modern and has more visual appeal to me.

Brass Counterpoint pulls
canadiandesignresource.ca

Silver Profile pulls
1stdibs.com

One final interesting find was a photo of a Counterpoint dresser in white, with an acid washed mirrored top. Although I know that Van Koert sometimes used interesting materials for the tops of his pieces, I thought at first that this might be a custom finish, but I eventually found another example from a different seller.

Drexel Counterpoint dresser in white lacquer with acid wash top
belvairformodernliving.1stdibs.com

Close-up of acid washed top
galleryvermillion.com

Saturday, September 11, 2010

Silver linings

One of the features of the Drexel Profile line that set it apart from most other mid-century collections with brass pulls was its silver trim and hardware. The Profile K50 china cabinet, in addition to its unique shed top, has silver pulls and lines of silver down the doors.

A 23-page 1960 Drexel catalog says, "The flowing silver-plated hardware, as elegant as fine sterling, especially reflects Van Koert's work in silver design."

Front of Drexel Profile K50 china cabinet

All that glitters is not Towle

A couple of years ago, I was browsing through a Macy's ad, and a set of stainless steel flatware caught my eye. It was a style called Opus by Henckels. What attracted me were the modern lines and the simplicity of the design. I bought a set and love it more now than the first time I saw it.

Recently I was doing some research on John Van Koert, the designer of my Drexel Profile dining room furniture, and I saw a picture of the Contour sterling flatware he designed for Towle in 1951. I was surprised to see how much his design inspired the design of some of the pieces of the Opus flatware. Though not identical, it definitely has the same feel, with its narrow, upturned handle. While the knives are the most dissimilar pieces, the dinner forks, spoons, and meat forks are very much alike. Now I know why it looks like it was made to go with my furniture.

I found a set of Contour flatware on eBay today for $2995, but I don't plan to raid the savings account to buy it. I'll just stick with my Opus for now. However, a Contour set has definitely made it to my "If I Ever Find It Cheap" list.

Contour in sterling silver by John Van Koert for Towle

My Henckels Opus stainless steel flatware

Thursday, September 9, 2010

John Van Koert

Since I featured my Drexel Profile dining furniture in a recent post, I thought I'd devote some time to the designer, John Van Koert. He is not as well-known as some MCM designers, but he played an integral role in establishing the modern aesthetic.

Van Koert (1912-1998) designed silverware and furniture that helped introduce modernist shapes. Born in Manitoba, Canada, he later moved to Milwaukee, where he studied at the University of Wisconsin to be a painter and sculptor and taught design in the art department. After World War II, he settled in New York as a jewelry designer for Harry Winston and later branched out into industrial design.

His flatware designs for Towle were well known in the 50s. One of them, "Contour," as sleek Miro-like design, was chosen to represent modernism in "Knife, Fork and Spoon," a 1951 traveling exhibition on the history of eating implements organized by the Walter Art Center of Minneapolis.

In 1954, he was exhibition director of "Design in Scandinavia," a show that traveled for three years to venues around the country and helped introduce Scandinavian modern design to Americans.

Van Koert's furniture designs for Drexel were presented in model rooms in department stores like Abraham & Straus, Macy's and Bloomingdale's. A 1956 installation of walnut furniture with rounded edges, silver-finished hardware and chartreuse upholstery known as the Profile collection, was shown against purple, silver, and electric-blue walls.

Van Koert was an early advocate of the built-in furniture popular in the 1950s with modernist architects and designers. Predicting a time when people would treat furniture like kitchen cabinetry, he said in an interview in 1958: "We shouldn't have to move our furniture when we more. After all, you can't get sentimentally attached to a $200 chair."

From nytimes.com