Paul McCobb or Harvey Probber Office Credenza? Directional/Calvin Furn. Co

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theurbanlink

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21/01/2012 1:23 am

Hello,
I was given this piece by my former employer and I am at a standstill as to who designed it. It's an office credenza with one pull out drawer and a file drawer beneath it. The other two cubbies looks like it may have had shelves in them? There are three adjustable peg holes in the cubblies on each side and back sides. The inner tag says Directional furniture for Calvin Furniture Co. Grand Rapids, MI. Which is where I am located so I did some research at our local furniture archives and saw the directional book but none of the pieces look like mine.
Any ideas? I also noticed that Harvey Probber made some pieces for Directional as well. This design I think looks like more of his stuff. How do you go about getting confirmation?
Thanks!
http://d1t1u890k7d3ys.cloudfront.net/cdn/farfuture/Z42_0h3oPmESbWGApystgrUCb61FcSAIKGus_d1BJdQ/mtime:1487899446/sites/default/files/forum/detail.jp g" /><img class="wpforo-default-image-attachment wpforoimg" src=" http://old.designaddict.com/sites/default

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Brent

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21/01/2012 2:27 am

Check that link...
Check that link...

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straylight

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23/01/2012 2:36 am

Directional designers
After Paul McCobb's tenure as exclusive designer for Directional from 1950 to 1959 many others were called upon, notably Kipp Stewart and Stewart MacDougal, Milo Baughman, Arthur Umanoff, George Mulhauser and of course Paul Evans along with others of lesser note and repute.
Harvey Probber (who was not an individual as per se but rather a large and well established furniture design and manufacturing concern employing 100's of people) did not design for Directional as far as I know.

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jesgord

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23/01/2012 4:12 am

Who was this dude?
Who was this dude?
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/02/nyregion/harvey-probber-a-designer-of-...

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straylight

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23/01/2012 6:10 am

That was Harvey Probber
That was Harvey Probber, the founder and principle of Harvey Probber Inc. a furniture manufacturing concern manufacturing their own goods for their own showrooms from 1945 to 1986. Read the article.
Harvey Probber was not a designer for hire during the years that Directional was in operation, which was the point that I was making.

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jesgord

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23/01/2012 4:28 pm

Thanks Straylight for the cla...
Thanks Straylight for the clarification. It sounded (to me) like you were saying that he was not actually a person but merely an entity.

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LRF

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23/01/2012 8:29 pm

straylight ... glad that...
straylight ... glad that is cleared up, as that is the way i read it also.
I have some of Harvey Probbers great pieces of furniture. He was a wonderful designer.

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barrympls

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24/01/2012 2:51 am

I concur
Probber was one of the really good designers, and like Jens Rissem and Vladimir Kagan, he produced his own furniture and whenever there's either a mid-century book or museum retrospective, these individualistic designers often get looked over, as compared to the Eames', George Nelson, Arne Jacobsen, etc.

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