Hi all:
I have had 2 mystery pieces of furniture in my house for quite awhile. Because this place is so awesome after a two weeks my mystery sofa was identified. So not being to proud to beg I bring to you the last unidentified piece in my house - the bedroom dresser.
EDIT - Confirmed the manufacturer was in fact Urban - The Urban Furniture Co.of Sweden. The only references to Urban I've found are in relation to the furniture the produced for Joseph Hinn. So I'm looking for any info on Urban and any designers who did work for them.
-- If it's not obvious, the 4 brown lines going down thru the drawers
(
I've attached a photo and I can give the following info:
- It's solid wood.
- The white paint on the drawer is quite recent. The dresser was originally all dark wood. I've chose to just leave the paint for now because my bedroom needs lighter colors for now.
-- There was one sticker on the inside of the drawer - it simply said "URBAN." I have no idea if this sticker was something from the manufacturer or just a sticker one of the former owners just stuck on there in the past.
EDIT - Confirmed the manufacturer was in fact Urban - The Urban Furniture Co.of Sweden. The only references to Urban I've found are in relation to the furniture the produced for Joseph Hinn.
-- If it's not obvious, the 4 brown lines going down thru the drawers are the drawer handles. They are sculptural handles, woodwork dovetailed into the drawers.
--- the dresser has 12 drawers, three high, four across - approximately 31 inch height and 78 inches width, 20 in. depth.
The piece was purchased in the Northeastern US. I found one other piece that was similar, a tall, narrow dresser for sale in LA and the sellers described it as "art deco" but I don't think they really knew much about it.
I will add some more photos of the handles and other details if needed or if no one recognizes is after a fair number of views.
Again, I want to thank all you guys for looking and any advice. I love MCM and I'm trying to finish having my whole house done in original pieces. This is an amazing forum. I'm a damn good researcher and have found very obscure items - but when all my powers fail I have posted here and the collective brilliance in this forum has come through for me.
Cheers,
TinyArmada
American
It looks like an American-made walnut dresser. I don't think even the name-brand furniture like this has a lot of value so not sure it's worth the effort finding the name. But maybe it is, I dunno. The value has obviously been diminished by painting it---but hey, I kinda like it painted, so.
Adding those kind of curved shapes to the front was a popular thing in American furniture design of that era. I found one other of your line just by doing a search for "mid century walnut dresser", plus many others of that style.
If you like it, then enjoy it.
Thanks Spanky. Yes, I had...
Thanks Spanky. Yes, I had assumed it was American but that's about all I could say. Great you found a tall chest dresser like it - got a link to it or could you tell me where it was posted. The one other piece I found was a chest just like that for sale in LA on Craigs list/ apt therapy. What decade do you think it was produced in?
Oh have no worries about it value or anything. It's a well made piece of furniture and I'm keeping it for many years to come. I just like knowing something about the origins of the vintage pieces I own.
Im usually so against painting vintage pieces but the white really brightens it up and accented the line design I liked on it. without the contrast the vertical handles just don't show up very well.
When I first bought it I thought I had seen similar pieces before, but once I started looking finding that exact design was near impossible to find. I guess what got me curious was finding the one other high dresser in LA being described as "art deco" I had assumed this dresser was made in the 60's but after inspecting the woodwork my partner said it could easily be older.
Appreciate any input or opinions. Thanks again Spanky.
The one photo I found didn't...
The one photo I found didn't lead anywhere other than to other those sites that compile search results, and I didn't see the photo on any of the actual sites so I think it has long since been deleted.
I would guess that it's early 1960s. I'm old enough to remember furniture from that time, and I think it took until the early 60s for the Danish Modern look to be mass produced in the US. Maybe late 1950s at the earliest. I used to have some old JC Penney and Sears catalogs from that era and they had furniture like this.
You didn't say
how much you paid in your original post, so it is impossible to say for sure if the paint diminished the value. I wouldn't pay more than about 140 USD for that piece, painted or not. They are a dime a dozen. So, if you paid $10 for it you are ahead of the game, so to speak.
Hi Riki, It would make my...
Hi Riki,
It would make my life easier if they were a dime a dozen. If you can find any photos of this style, much less dozens, please, please show me where. I have gone through so much used furniture - high end to low end - to no avail. As I said before the only other match was a tallboy with the same style on craig's list in LA, which was described as art deco.
I'm all too familiar with the big American manufacturing lines of MCM styles - broyhill, lane, dunbar, martinsville, stuff that was sold at Sears, etc... This isn't any of those pieces. I've collected MCM since the early 90's and I think I'm a good judge of quality and origin, but this has me stumped.
Only further details I can give since you can only see a subpar photo - It's sturdy,solid, heavy wood. It is well made - lots of nice pieces dovetailed into each other, with very few screws - but flathead screws where found. If I think of any further details of use I will post and plan on taking a few better quality photos to add this weekend.
Edit: oh I paid a bit over $140 for the dresser but got a good deal. It gave me the type of storage space I needed, good craftsmanship, and the style matched my bedroom. I didnt buy this thinking I got some rare or special design and certainly didn't pay as if I did. It's just driven me crazy not being able to find out one iota about it's origins.
My best guess ATM is possibly a small American manufacturer that produced in a certain region and disappeared decades ago.
PS- There is are a few similar styled piece I've seen from a midcentury Martinsville line, usually a tall dresser. But one of the major differences is the sculptural handle lines are all straight - not the tapered hour glass type outline - which is a key feature of my dresser's style and one of major reasons I liked the piece.
RE: to waffle
Thanks! I'm usually so against painting MCM furniture but in this case it really brought the lines of the design the way I wanted it to. Without the white it was too dark and heavy for my bedroom - and I can also see why one could label art deco due to that fact. When I found it I could see it would be just what I needed for practical use in my bedroom with a little paint, you just couldn't appreciate the cool lines of the sculptural handles without the contrast.
Urban Furniture Co.
Update, I've confirmed this dresser was made by the Urban Furniture Company of Sweden.
Now I'm trying to find out more about the company which is difficult because the word "urban" brings up all kinds of unwanted results and there have been some new crap companies using that name in the last 10 years. I've found Joseph Hinn was one of their more well known designers and that's about the extent of my knowledge.
So can anyone here give me any info on the Urban Furniture Co? Or now that I can confirm the maker anything more about this dresser?
Thanks for any assistance.
Maria
Desperation bump
A shameless desperation bump since I've still not found zip else about Urban Furniture Co. besides it always being mentioned along side of Hinn's beautiful pieces.
I've actually had some unusual luck with some IDs today so decided to tempt fate and bump this to see if my luck holds. Any Swedes out there? I've found some odd pages that may have info about Urban, or is at least mentions it, but the translate feature confuses more than helps.
I appreciate the forums patience with me on this, because I just know I'm so close to some info.
- Maria
Thank you Straylight
I just received documentation from Straylight showing that it is William (not Joseph) Hinn that designed the furniture for Urban furniture Co - between '54 and '60 roughly.
And it would seem that this dresser we listed is also designed by William Hinn and produced by Urban Furniture Co.
We will keep digging to see if we can find a photo or article featuring this precise piece - but I would say straylights documentation is pretty sound on the matter.
The construction is solid and high quality and the factories are in Sweden.
Thank you again Straylight, this is very much appreciated.
- A.S.
Urban Furniture Company
Hi,
I know this is an old post but I might have a smidge of info. I'm in the process of selling my mothers furniture and found a brochure from Urban Furniture Company. I think its from around 1959
I have a few Urban pieces up for sale contact if interested
Located in Brooklyn NY
http://www.dropbox.com/sh/1d0kxml66tcz969/8JTjz9LmC7
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