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Chic pair of streamline Art Moderne dressers designed by Gilbert Rohde, for Herman Miller c 1936. The dressers feature opposing right and left cases, each with pale yellow drawer fronts and tops, with contrasting walnut framing, and drawer pulls. We believe the pale yellow paint was either a custom finish from Herman Miller, or possibly the work of the original decorator in the 1930’s. The Birdseye Maple veneer is still intact under the yellow paint finish. The paint finish shows considerable cosmetic wear, and one chest shows some veneer loss at the top panel, please see images. Each chest has four deep drawers, creating ample storage space. Fully functional and usable as is, or have them refinished if you prefer a more polished look. These pieces are offered and priced as a pair. Please view the matching night stands and vanity we have listed separately at Barbarella Home, on 1st Dibs.Creator: Gilbert Rohde (Designer),Herman Miller (Maker)Dimensions: Height: 36 in (91.44 cm)Width: 43 in (109.22 cm)Depth: 19 in (48.26 cm)Sold As: Set of 2Style: Art Deco (Of the Period)Materials and Techniques: Birdseye Maple,Walnut,VeneerPlace of Origin: United StatesPeriod: 1930-1939Date of Manufacture: 1936Condition: FairRefinished. Wear consistent with age and use. Minor losses. Both are structurally sound and sturdy, both show considerable cosmetic wear to the finish, one shows loss to veneer at top panel.please see images and description.Seller Location: New York, NYReference Number: 1stDibs: LU978737632492Shop All Gilbert Rohde
Gilbert Rohde
Pioneering self-taught industrial designer, writer and teacher Gilbert Rohde helped define the earliest phase of modernism in the United States. He is one of the most influential figures of 20th-century design and is credited with helping legendary mid-century modern furniture manufacturer Herman Miller avert financial disaster during the Great Depression.
Born in New York City, Rohde studied painting at the Art Students League after high school. He found lucrative employment, first as a political cartoonist and then as a catalog illustrator for American department stores. He was particularly enthralled with drawing furnished interiors.
Rohde began to design furniture in his spare time. He traveled to the Bauhaus school in Germany and the International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts in Paris, and drew on the Art Deco movement and the work of designers such as mile-Jacques Ruhlmann in his early pieces. Rohde opened his own studio in 1929 and secured private and commercial commissions. His clients would come to include formidable furniture makers Heywood-Wakefield and Troy Sunshade, and his innovative bentwood furnishings for them were practical and intended for the modern consumer.
In 1930, Rohde met Herman Miller founder D.J. De Pree in the companys Michigan showroom during a business trip. By then, Rohde had a long list of prominent clients and his furniture had been exhibited in museums and galleries. Herman Miller was weathering a devastating slowdown in business, and the American furniture industry had generally been hit hard by the Great Depression.
Rohde boldly informed De Pree that the brands furniture had become outdated, which was part of the reason the company was in financial jeopardy. Homes had become smaller and could no longer accommodate the large Gothic and Victorianstyle furnishings and traditional reproductions of period bedroom suites that Herman Miller was offering at the time, Rohde explained.
Rohde secured a contract to design for the Michigan manufacturer. He championed the use of exotic woods and tubular steel, and created streamlined, unadorned bedroom furniture for Herman Miller collections that included convenient vanities, which were unconventional pieces for De Prees company back then.
In 1933, Rohde oversaw the design of two bedrooms featuring sleek Herman Miller furniture including innovative storage pieces he designed as part of an Internationalstyle exhibit at the 1933 Chicago Worlds Fair. The installation garnered acclaim for De Prees brand all over the world and afforded Rohde the opportunity to execute on his visionary ideas in front of a global audience. Rohde later designed lighting, seating and more for Herman Miller and was extensively involved in the company’s marketing strategy and other areas of the business.
In 1942, Herman Miller, anticipating a postwar economic boom, began to produce office furniture for the first time, but its legacy is in the home. Working with legendary designers such as Ray and Charles Eames, Isamu Noguchi and Alexander Girard, the manufacturer fostered some of the boldest expressions of what we now call mid-century modern style.
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Herman Miller
No other business of its kind did more than the Herman Miller Furniture Company to introduce modern design into American homes. Working with legendary designers such as Charles and Ray Eames, George Nelson and Alexander Girard, the Zeeland, Michigan-based firm fostered some of the boldest expressions of what we now call mid-century modern style. In doing so, Herman Miller produced some of the most beautiful, iconic and, one can even say, noblest chairs, sofas, tables and other furniture ever.
Founded in 1923, Herman Miller was originally known for grand historicist bedroom suites: heavily ornamented wood furniture that appealed to a high-minded, wealthier clientele. The company named for its chief financial backer began to suffer in the early 1930s as the Great Depression hit, and D.J. De Pree, the companys CEO, feared bankruptcy. In 1932, aid came in the form of Gilbert Rohde, a self-taught furniture designer who had traveled widely in Europe, absorbing details of the Art Deco movement and other modernist influences. After persuading De Pree that the growing middle class required smaller, lighter household furnishings, Rohde set a new course for Herman Miller, creating sleek chairs, tables and cabinetry that were the essence of the Streamline Moderne style.
Rohde died suddenly in 1944. The following year, De Pree turned to George Nelson, an architect who had written widely about modern furniture design. Under Nelsons leadership, Herman Miller would embrace new technologies and materials and audacious biomorphic forms.
Some of the pieces the company produced are now emblems of 20th century American design, including the Eames lounge chair and ottoman and Nelsons Marshmallow sofa and Coconut chair. Such instantly recognizable furnishings have become timeless staples of a modernist dcor; striking, offbeat notes in traditional environments.
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