Esoteric Survey

The Cotton House by Philmer J. Ellerbroek.  The chairs and table were designed by Dan Johnson. Source:  Maynard L. Parker, photographer. Courtesy of The Huntington Library Ad from 1951 showing the Dan Johnson-designed chair.  Source: LA Times, 1951 leslie's, which was located in the Wilshire Center/Koreatown neighborhood of Los Angeles, advertised a variety of Johnson's early pieces. Many were designed exclusively for leslie's.  Source: LA Times, 1951 1954 ad in a trade magazine with the best name, Metal Furniture. It's introducing a new lounge chair, by Selig. There is no mention of the designer. This is where things start to get dicey. This is obviously the 1951 Dan Johnson chair with wood arms instead of brass ball caps. Selig also didn't credit him in their own advertising. Source: Andy Hackman (A legend in California Modern) Recently, some people have been claiming that Lawrence Peabody designed the chair for Selig....

Charlotte Perriand, with support from Sori Yanagi and Junzo Sakakura, was invited by the Japanese Ministry of Commerce and Industry/Department of Trade Promotion to serve as an advisor to help increase furniture exports for Japan. Perriand had met Sakakura while they were both working at Le Corbusier’s studio. Junzo worked with Le Corbusier in Paris from 1931 to 1936. On June 15, 1940 Perriand boarded a cruiseliner headed to Japan. This was one day after the nazis had captured Paris. She arrived in Japan on August 21, 1940. Image: Perriand with back to camera and Sori Yanagi (center), via Charlotte Perriand: An Art of Living: Mary McLeod   She stayed at the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Imperial Hotel. Then she traveled throughout Japan with Sori Yanagi and visited Mingei craftspeople around the county. Source: MFA Boston Perriand (middle) with Sakakura (left) with two Japanese craftsmen, 1941 Image: Charlotte Perriand: An Art of Living: Mary McLeod  In 194...

On May 08, 2104, this "Rod Iron & Leather Side Chair. Wood Arms California" was sold at Michaan's auction .  The estimate was $1,000 to $1,200 and it  sold for $2,500. Of course all "unknown" iron furniture comes from California.  Well, it turns out "The Putney Chair" was from The Putney Graduate School of Teacher Education in Putney, Vermont Source:  FleaBay

Sofa, tables, and lamp by Harry Lawenda for Kneedler-Fauchere My new Lawenda lamp Kneedler-Fauchere ad (more on them  here ) This was an expensive lamp.  $80 in 1952 equals about $700 today. The lamp with the triangular base (although the top looks square  so I'm not sure how the base is triangular) is by Lawenda. The one to the left is by Paul Mayen. Although the form is similar, this lamp was NOT  designed by Harry Lawenda. It was produced by Verplex.  Tony Paul designed lamps for Verplex, though I don't know if he designed this particular model.  In the eBay listing these photos came from, the description explains the seller's  mom said the lamp was designed by Tony Paul. I guess that's a better source than some sellers use. I still have my doubts. Source: eBay The lamp is marked Verplex in two places and the shade is also marked Verplex. Source: eBay Verplex was based in Essex, Connecticut. Th...