High-end UK dealer Vintage Seekers is offering an expertly curated selection of mid-century posters featuring ski resorts throughout the Alps and other destinations. These are all uncommon original prints and the price tags reflect that fact. Those of us without the budget for these classic works of advertising art will have to admire them via our computer screens. Fortunately, VS has supplied us with a few larger images for an even better view. Twelve of our favorite posters are below — click to enlarge.

Alpensonderzüge, Germany
Otto Ottler, 1936
German Railway System

Zugerberg
Martin Peikert, 1948
Gebr. Fretz AG, Zurich

World Skiing Championships, Czech Republic
Kovar, 1969
International Ski Federation

Zermatt, Switzerland
1964
Swissair

St. Moritz
Enis, 1955
J.C Muller, Zurich

Sun Valley, Idaho
Sheets, 1956
United Air Lines

Crans Montana, Switzerland
Hans Erni, 1987

St Moritz Piz Nair
Martin Peikert, 1948
Wolfsburg A.G, Zurich

Ski Colorado
Gates, 1957
Colorado State Winter Sports Committee

Norway
Claude Lemeunier, 1957
Norwegian State Railways and the Norway Travel Association

Niederösterreich, Austria
1950s
Christoph Reissers Sohne, Vienna

Les Diablerets, Switzerland
Martin Peikert, 1949
Klausfelder S.A., Vevey

A few more favorites.
See the rest at Vintage Seekers »

See also: A Trip to Europe, 1963

Director Jeremy Konnor was clearly inspired by “American Look”, the 1958 film by Chevrolet, in this music video for She & Him’s “Don’t Look Back”. See both videos below.

We saw this news over a year ago, but HUH reports that the iconic house from “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” is still for sale. The 4 bedroom, 5,300 sq. ft. landmark was designed by A. James Speyer and David Haid in 1953. The price is now reduced to $1,650,000. Not bad for a historic landmark of modernism just outside Chicago.

As a refresher, have a look at the scenes from the movie that featured the building, and the incredible 1961 Ferrari 250 GTO California that lived in the separate garage.

Via Motorator

Stella Artois consistently produces amusing, cinematic ads and their latest combines two of my loves: wood panels and control panels. Wes Anderson and Roman Coppola co-directed this spot in which the set is the star.

Can anyone ID that table? It’s got a base like a Nelson, but not quite.

Via my pal Leila and AgencySpy.

Los Angeles Modern Auctions (LAMA) is an auction house that specializes in modern art, design, and furniture with an emphasis on works by important 20th century artists, designers, and architects. LAMA’s 50th auction on October 17, 2010 promises a strong selection, most of which has never traded hands until now.

The auction will include a variety of classic modern designs from Hans J. Wegner, such as a set of six “Wishbone” or “Y” chairs, a “Peacock” chair, a “Sawback” rocking chair, a pair of daybeds, a high-back rocking chair, a rare drop-leaf desk, a credenza, and a “Papa” Chair.

Peter Loughrey, founder and director of LAMA, has been dealing in Wegner designs since 1989 and has seen these pieces change in value and popularity. We asked him about the pieces in his October 17th auction.

“These are all mass produced items. However, each of these designs was crafted at a very high level for mass produced furniture. Out of all the pieces we are selling in the auction, only the “Papa”, “Peacock” and “Wishbone” can be bought today as a reproduction. The reproductions are far more expensive than the originals, which is a clear sign that their market value is very reasonable.”

Drop Leaf Desk
Model no. 305
Designed 1954
$3,000‐5,000

Peter says that of the pieces being offered in the auction, the drop-leaf table is the most rare design.

“The drop-leaf desk was not always available in Wegner catalogs from the period and was likely a more expensive item, therefore fewer of them were ordered by American buyers.”

Papa Chair
Model no. AP19
Designed 1951
$4,000–6,000

The “Papa” chair does not include an ottoman, which most of the time is more desirable, however this clean, restored example, could probably be purchased for half price because of that sole reason. The estimate for this “Papa” chair is $4,000–6,000 and the starting bid usually starts at half the low estimate.

“Right now, people place extra value on original condition with the ottoman, so this is a great piece to live with and sit on everyday.”

In his 60-year career, Wegner designed over 200 different chairs, in addition to daybeds, tables, and desks, which were very prolific and captured the essence of the Scandinavian aesthetic, which is still prevalent in many interiors today.

“What is extraordinary about these designs is their ubiquity, and that the market has taken them for granted. All these designs are excellent candidates to actually use in your daily life. None of these pieces are so precious and rare, that merely using them might lower their value.”

Rocking Chair
Designed 1951
$2,000–3,000

For more information regarding the October 17th Modern Art & Design auction, LAMA, and Peter Loughrey, visit lamodern.com.

Photos courtesy of Los Angeles Modern Auctions (LAMA).

See more Wegner pieces in the MCM Gallery »

A couple of years ago, we featured the “Teak Cabinet of Curiosity”, a sewing box with some unusual swinging drawers. Since then, that model or similar — always without a design or maker credit — has made several appearances on eBay, both in Europe and the U.S. So it’s not very rare, but I’m still quite enamored with it.

Since then I’ve run across several other types of mid-century sewing boxes, each with its own clever way to store and reveal its contents, be they needles and string, or paints and brushes. Here are three favorites.

Red Felt Box — Delicate and unique. I haven’t seen anything quite like this one.

Tripod Box with Swinging Drawers — Still available!

Rolling Box with Removable Tray — Still available!

Want to see more? Bookmark the Sewing Boxes page in the Gallery. We’re always keeping an eye out for these lovely little storage pods. What would you store in them? Tell us in the comments below.

AMC’s “Mad Men” is not only one of the best dramas on television, it also debuted with perfect timing, at a moment when America’s fascination with mid-century style was at a fever pitch. Three years later, as Season 4 premieres, the frenzy for furniture and fashion of the 1960s is still hot.

In celebration of tonight’s episode, let’s take a look at the show’s immaculate, award-winning production design. Starting with Don Draper’s office.

Set in the early 1960s, nearly every shot of “Mad Men” is filled with objects from an era rich with new ideas, a time when modernism was still fresh, yet more mature than its early years — on the brink of going mainstream.

Dan Bishop, Production Designer

Of course, not everything we see in “Mad Men” was produced in the ’60s, as Production Designer Dan Bishop explains:

We wanted to make sure it wasn’t a textbook study of mid-century modern America — as Matt specifically pointed out, look around your own house, does everything exist from 2007 or do you actually have stuff lying around from the ’80s?

Property Master Scott Buckwald elaborates:

… there are a lot of things that are holdovers, especially for the older generation. Their cars could be from the early ’50s. You have to watch out for the misinterpretations and prejudices you might have about the era. It’s also very easy to try to jam everything that was introduced in 1960 all into one episode. You have to space it out a little bit. ’Cause everything that was developed in 1960 didn’t happen in one day.

We also don’t want to create a historical anachronism by putting a 1962 typewriter or transistor radio in, so we try to watch that, unless, creatively we just decide it’s a good way to go. Otherwise, we keep ourselves locked to April of 1960.

Don Draper’s Office

Amy Wells, Set Decorator (photo by Billy Kelly)

Set decorator Amy Wells was responsible for the decor. Many of the pieces are originals, like the Eames Executive Chair (see it at DWR), others are reproductions. Wells was featured on NPR’s All Things Considered in anticipation of the Season Three premiere.

Wells, oddly enough, is one of the few people on the Mad Men staff old enough to remember the era the show depicts. But she doesn’t just rely on her memories when she’s decorating a kitchen or a swanky office; she’s got a vast library of vintage catalogs and decorating books.

“One of the best references — we just used it this morning for the size of a baby blanket — is the Sears catalogs and the Montgomery Ward catalog,” she says. “They’re so specific, and they have all these items. And then I have every decorating book from the late ’40s through the mid-’60s. So Better Homes & Gardens — you know, all those decorating books that came out every year — I have all of those.”

Wells also revealed in the NPR interview her budget: $25,000 per week/episode. I imagine that’s increased since last season.

Time-Life Executive Chair (ES 105)
Eames
FD-146 Chair
Hvidt/Mølgaard-Nielsen
Boxy set
Simplaform/Futurama

Don’s office was gently remodeled between the pilot and subsequent episodes. The simple leather chairs were replaced with cane-back pieces (possibly Hvidt/Mølgaard-Nielsen), and the desk lamp went from Bauhaus to ’50s twin. Don’s all-teak Danish modern desk from the pilot was a beauty with its backside display shelf (lonely and bare) but it was replaced with something that was much more common in an American office at the time: a larger Knoll or Steelcase, with metal legs and an overhanging surface.

The drab walls of the pilot office get the biggest upgrade: rich wood paneling. Dan Bishop says in a special feature of the Season 1 DVD that the panels are real walnut (stained in the typical way), but creator Matthew Weiner thought it as too cold, so they added a red dye.

Boxy Sofa
Simplaform
unnamed sofa
Jydsk Møbelværk
Goetz Sofa
Herman Miller

The lounge area of Don’s office is anchored by a Boxy sofa, armchair, and coffee table from Futurama, a Los Angeles shop that reproduces vintage designs. (Thanks to Javi!) The Futurama sofas are manufactured by Simplaform and are inspired by Jydsk Møbelværk and Milo Baughman. If you like this look, don’t forget Autoban’s Box and Herman Miller’s Goetz.

And oh, that steel ashtray on a pedestal … the roulette cigarette dispenser … they make even non-smokers dream about decorating their pads with smoking accessories.

What sort of desk will Don Draper grace in the new agency? Maybe we’ll find out tonight. In the meantime, the Mid-Century Modernist “Mad Men” Furniture series will continue. In the next installment we’ll step outside Don’s nest and explore the rest of Sterling Cooper’s former offices and the new digs of Season 4’s Sterling Cooper Draper Price.

Read more:
Props Gallery with commentary by Property Master Scott Buckwald
Collectors Weekly interview with Buckwald
Interior Design interview with Amy Wells

Interested in items for sale that are related to pieces mentioned in this post? Mad Men Furniture Gallery »

This week, London’s Rocket Gallery is launching a collection of nine pieces from the mid-century master Jens Risom. The release is the result of a four-year collaboration between Risom and gallery owner Jonathan Stephenson who hosted the first ever retrospective of vintage Risom pieces in 2007. Stephenson says their shared beliefs — “that good design can change lives, and beautiful, well-made objects should be accessible to everyone” — facilitated the partnership. However, it wasn’t until he introduced Risom to Sean Sutcliffe and Terence Conran at Benchmark, a UK company specializing in handmade furniture, that “he was sure we could produce a product that would meet his exacting standards.” Rocket and Benchmark have jointly secured the European rights to re-issue Risom’s 1950s and 1960s furniture designs.

Risom, who was born in Copenhagen in 1916, describes himself as a Danish-born, American designer, not a Danish designer. His father Sven Risom was an award-winning architect and Risom says he lived with wonderful design for years before he “really got into it professionally.” He attended the School for Arts and Crafts in Copenhagen where he became close to Hans Wegner, one of the few designers whose furniture he has in his own home. He trained under Kaare Klint, the principal founder of the furniture school at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts. In 1938, he left for the United States where he thought he’d have a better chance of making a name for himself.

Stephenson says the move was born out of Risom’s tremendous ambition. “He was such a good businessman, and he always says he left Denmark partly because there was so much competition there. He wanted to be a very big player in a much bigger market. His aim was to get good furniture into the hands of every American.”

In fact, Risom describes the size of the market when he arrived with bemused dismay. “I came here without really knowing how impossible it was for a furniture designer to get going, because there was no furniture design in the United States. There was no acceptance of contemporary design or architecture. It’s true, there was nothing going on at that time. You could have looked for a furniture designer and you wouldn’t have found one. I was very, very early and it was fortunate,” he says.

Risom was ahead of his time. When he applied at at the New York Museum of Modern Art (MOMA), an interviewer could not imagine what kind of job Risom hoped to find. Risom laughs when he says he started his furniture career working as a textile designer for Dan Cooper, a well-known interior designer.

Cooper introduced Risom to many of the New York architects and designers who would champion his work. He describes the “young guys who were always coming by for a drink” as similarly discouraged about America’s unwillingness to embrace modernism.

“They were always crying in their beer because there weren’t any customers and no one would buy contemporary things,” he says. But, it was this new generation of architects — always architects — that encouraged him.

“Interior decorators were only interested in more traditional design and old things and making things look old. Anything new or contemporary especially from Europe, especially from Scandinavia, they didn’t want it,” he says.

Designed in 1949, the iconic T 539 Magazine Table appeared in the first comprehensive Jens Risom Design catalogue.

Risom, who believes one can reshape public taste with time and education, persisted. He asked craftsmen in his neighborhood — German and Italian furniture makers — to make his designs. He sold pieces directly to “the young men hanging around Mr. Cooper’s”, who went on to become some of the country’s most influential architects and designers. Risom participated in a number of high profile collaborations. One was with Hans Knoll, for whom he designed 15 of the 20 pieces in Knoll’s first collection, before starting his own business, Jens Risom Design Inc. (JRD) in 1946.

Risom felt it was important to maintain control over not only the design elements of the company, but also the manufacturing. The introduction of his 1955 catalogue states: “Everything is designed and manufactured by us. Having the planning, engineering, and production all under one roof is very important, we think. It guarantees uniformity and continuity of style.” Hardly the detached designer with a sketchpad, he was on the factory floor every week and supervised day-to-day production. His obsessive pursuit of perfection in both form and function delivered enormously successful products. By the time he sold the business in 1970 to the Dictaphone Corporation, it was the third largest furniture company in America.

Jens Risom catalogs and literature.

While trolling eBay, Stephenson discovered Risom, who was relatively unknown in the UK since the sale of JRD. He was looking at furniture and a round label on the bottom of a chair caught his eye. It was Risom’s original typographic logo. Stephenson says the design of the label inspired him to explore Risom’s work.

“His obsession with presentation and detail reminded me of my own,” he says. Moreover, this passion and discipline extended into every aspect of Risom’s business. “He wasn’t just involved with the design of the furniture, he was involved with the design of the whole company, from the selection of materials to the finish of each piece, the advertising campaigns, all the publicity, slogans, the logo, everything. He was quite an early example of that kind of comprehensive corporate identity.”

Stephenson began seriously collecting Risom pieces in 2005. After he accumulated more than a 100 examples of original designs, he phoned Risom at his home in New Canaan, Connecticut and introduced himself. He explained Rocket was interested in holding a mini-retrospective of Risom’s work.

Risom agreed, saying, “England has always been very close to my heart, in part because there was always more acceptance of modern design there than here in my own country.”

Jens Risom visits Jonathan Stephenson at Rocket in 2006.

The two began making plans, and in 2006, Stephenson flew to the United States to meet with Risom and others involved in the exhibition. Risom says, “I am very impressed with Jonathan’s courage; he is very knowledgeable and understands good design. It is a very warm affair when you find the right people.”

Stephenson says it was clear from that outset that Risom was interested in getting some of his designs back into production. His original pieces were getting harder and harder to get a hold of.

With a dwindling supply of vintage pieces, a number of companies approached Risom about reissuing his designs. Stephenson says they were turned down, “Jens’ standards were extremely high. He wasn’t confident that the quality was going to be upheld and felt that the manufacturing was going to go off to China or the Far East or whatever. He really wanted to know that the furniture was being made to the same standard that his own factory used to make it.”

Stephenson was also keen to move toward furniture production but couldn’t find anyone to make the product he needed until a meeting with Sean Sutcliffe and a visit to the premises of Benchmark in Berkshire.

“It became clear this was perhaps the only company in England capable of making Risom’s furniture to the required standards, in solid sustainable woods,” Stephenson says.

The U 620 Bench is another iconic Risom piece, designed in the early 1950s.

Benchmark is one of a handful of furniture companies left in the UK. Not only are they committed to “excellence in design, materials and craftsmanship” but also to keeping the skills and industry of furniture making alive in England. Stephenson already knew that Benchmark was exactly the right company to make the furniture, but the decision was finalized when Risom’s son Sven visited the Benchmark workshops to see the craftsmanship for himself. According to Stephenson, the younger Risom said, “The factory is exactly like my dad’s old factory, just smaller.”

When asked what makes Risom’s work so relevant and sought after, Stephenson says, “I keep coming back to how functional his pieces are, how down-to-earth. There is nothing frivolous or gimmicky about them. His work is practical but still has enormous elegance. There’s nothing unnecessary about it.”

Out of production since 1959, Benchmark and Rocket bring the simple, timeless U 431 back to life in oak or walnut with fabric or leather upholstery.

He considers Risom’s furniture perfectly positioned for a 21st century revival. “The mid-century furniture world has come through its love affair with Danish furniture and is looking for the next trend to study and appreciate. Risom trained in Denmark, but took his skills and outlook to the United States where he created furniture that was a fusion of Danish craft and American modernism. His revival is well underway in the United States and in Europe it has started keenly. Market-wise, his vintage pieces have risen sharply in value over the last three years and so it is ideal timing to offer new re-issued pieces of Risom furniture,” Stephenson says.

In his 94th year, Risom is also optimistic about the collaboration and happy to sate a world hungry for his designs.

“As far as I am concerned, England is a charming country and I like to work with them, and that is what we’re looking forward to doing with Rocket,” says Risom. “I hope people will come to see it. I hope people will come and take advantage of sitting in the chairs and using the tables and cabinets because it’s all designed very much for contemporary people, us, you and me, to use and live with.”

A preview of the Jens Risom collection will be held at Rocket on Thursday, 1 July from 6–9. The exhibition will run between the 2 July – 4 of September. The furniture can be viewed at jensrisom.com and will be available in select outlets. International inquiries welcome. The gallery is open Tuesday to Friday, 10–6 & Saturday 12–6.

Photos copyright Paul Tucker, courtesy Rocket Gallery

Welcome to the new Mid-Century Modernist. Before you even enter the doors, it’s clear things have changed around here.

First, the obvious: the façade. With the expert help of my partner in bloggery, Chris Hamamoto, we’ve widened the site and enlarged the images. A grid view makes entries easier to traverse. Categories were rescued from obscurity, given a sensible hierarchy and placed at the top of the structure. (Expect these to expand in the near future.) The new Selected space at the right shines a spotlight on our favorite items. And at the bottom of each entry, related posts and eBay items beckon you to explore further. In short, three years of existing content is completely tidied up and refurbished.

But what’s truly new is the addition at the back of the house. The Gallery is a curated showroom of the most interesting items from the mid-century modern era — for both sale and research. You can browse by tags denoting categories, materials, designers, and color. For this first release, it’s filled with items from eBay. The mega auctioneer is still one of the best ways to find affordable, original mid-century pieces online, but scoundrels and mislabeled items abound, making it difficult to seperate treasures from trash. We do the sifting for you, selecting the best items by hand every day.

Special thanks to Laura Serra for her tireless work updating legacy posts to the new format, to Daniel Pennypacker for his code wrangling, and to Christian Schwartz for designing Neutraface Slab, the typeface adorning our new transom. All other type is set in FF Dagny, designed by Örjan Nordling and Göran Söderström and served up by Typekit.

Though we’re now open to the public, our work is far from done. The beauty of the web is that a construction project is never finished. Follow the RSS feed or Twitter and keep an eye on the site for more developments in the near future. In the meantime, make yourself at home and let us know what you think. Our mailbox is open.

A BT637 calendar clock by Pierre Bodet, produced in the ’70s. Here’s the patent (PDF). It sold on eBay today for nearly $400.

This tasty bit of eye candy for flip clock fetishists brought to my attention the piece that was probably its inspiration: the Dator 5 designed by Gino Valle and manufactured by Solari Udine in the mid- to late ’60s.

A Solari Dator 5 in blue

And as luck would have it, a generous Dutchman, Raymond Van Orsoy de Flines, has published video of the Dator 5 and its dateless cousin, the Cifra 5, in action. Witnessing all the noisy mechanics whir as it changes from one month to the next only makes my lust for this marvel grow deeper.

There are more followers of Valle’s design in production today, including this wide range by Homeloo, but they clearly lack the spirit of the Solari Dator 5 or even the Bodet model.

Here’s another beautiful example of a Bodet flip clock, this one with months in English.

Finally, Adam Dorrell shot the innards of his Dator 5, noting the leap year function and blithely commenting, “This is why it’s great. No one would make a clock like this today. It would be cheaper to use ICs and a clock chip.”

Solari is still a key producer of those fantastic split-flap displays seen in railway stations and airports. In fact, such displays are often called “Solari boards”. Thanks to Luke McKenzie for the info, who notes:

Sadly, like most mechanical things that are awesome to behold, they easily fall into disrepair, and reliable, versatile, dull electronic signs are driving them to extinction.