by Pam Kueber on June 1, 2008
Welcome to
Courtney - a longtime reader but new commenter. She has some insight on
Stef’s Asian inspired tables, along with some great photos of her own Ritts set – a classic, dusty-basement foraging find:
Hi Pam,
Thought I would comment on the reader question regarding her Asian inspired mid-century furniture pieces…
A few years ago I was rummaging around with a collector in his basement storage facility at a relatively iconic apartment complex in the Hollywood area. He was trying to thin out his collection of amazing mid-century stuff, and I was happy to help. The brass detail of a buried table caught my eye, and a half hour later, covered in grime, and for under a hundred bucks, I was the owner of a five piece Ritts Company black lacquer rattan and bamboo table and chair set. Similar to your other reader, I didn’t know a lot about the pieces or even if they were so much my style (or how I would mitigate five new pieces in my tiny Los Angeles apartment), but they were so unique (the chair- a ring of black rattan with a stark red floating vinyl cushion, and each table, in a variety of sizes, with etched brass corner details and faux-marble Formica table tops). Not quite as literal as the Chinese characters on your reader’s bamboo table, but definitely Asian inspired. I’m attaching a few photos of these just for fun (I actively use 3 of the 5 tables. The one I photographed is probably in the roughest shape, but I like to think the rustic look softens the edge. Unfortunately, my Danish chairs have relegated the black lacquer chair to the walk in closet).
I did do a little bit of research at the time, so I might offer what I learned. I think the short story is that the tiki-inspired bamboo and rattan furniture trend took off like crazy mid-century, and with bamboo pieces, the leap to Asian is not a far one. The tropical aesthetic is closely related to Asian. To keep up with demand, designers and manufacturers churned out a lot of these sets and experimented with variations. The long answer is in this article I found in the LA Times- a great piece about the evolution of tropical décor, complete with a timeline of the entire last century, from 1904 to 2004, and the relative influence of popular culture on woven furniture (think “Blue Hawaii” to “Golden Girls”, etc). I think you’ll enjoy it!
By the way, LOVE the site. Retro Renovation and Apartment Therapy are my top go-to’s for my daily design fix.
Thanks! Courtney, Los Angeles
THANK YOU, Courtney!
Here’s another good post — about Chinese influences — that we ran a couple of months ago, courtesy insight from Palm Springs Stephan.
by Pam Kueber on June 1, 2008
Recommended by Courtney, this 2004 L.A. Times article also includes a great timeline of the Asian-Tiki trend – which the Times calls “Tropi-California”:
A century under the palms
Tropi-California décor has evolved from exotic to kitsch to the essence of contemporary casual. The highlights of 100 years of a homegrown style:
1904-19: East Coast emigres find their Victorian parlor wicker (once paired with potted palms in the solarium) to be lightweight and durable enough to use in and out of doors, as the climate of California encouraged.
1920-29: Sica, a thin round vine also known as stick rattan, is introduced into such furniture as casual angular armchairs with built-in magazine slots by companies such as Heywood-Wakefield, below. In Europe, Mies van der Rohe designs modernist tubular metal chairs with wicker seats.
1930-39: Inspired by Filipino craftsmen who bend thick rattan rods into organic shapes, American designers twist the pliable but weather resistant material into fanciful Deco and Streamline shapes. As a decorative accent, rattan, cane and sea grass are often mixed with Philippine mahogany. Ernest Beaumont-Gantt opens Don the Beachcomber, the big kahuna of Tiki restaurants.
1940-48: Rattan is the most prevalent furniture among American servicemen stationed in the Pacific. As imports grow, manufacturers such as Tropical Sun Rattan in Pasadena, above, and Ritts Co. in Los Angeles spring up. Furniture designer Paul Frankl’s pretzel-shaped armchair becomes an icon of the era. Rattan with loud floral upholstery becomes popular for porches and rec rooms across the country.
1949-52: Architect Paul Williams builds a new wing at the Beverly Hills Hotel. The Martinique banana-leaf print wallpaper selected by decorator Don Loper defines the postwar tropical look in Los Angeles. The hotel’s lunch counter, right, looks the same today. In 1952, Danny Ho Fong opens Tropi-Cal in Los Angeles.
1953-58: In the years before Hawaii became the 49th state, the look of Hawaii and Polynesia become popularized in “From Here to Eternity” (1953) and “South Pacific” (1958). Trader Vic’s becomes a national chain, opening an outpost in the Beverly Hilton that still stands. As U.S. manufacturers cut corners, rattan starts to look ratty and is soon surpassed in popularity by plywood and molded fiberglass modern furniture.
1959-65: “Gidget” and its sequel “Gidget Goes Hawaiian” are released and Elvis goes to the islands in “Blue Hawaii,” launching the surf craze in America and the beach movie genre around the world.
1966-70: Woven furniture is reinvented with sleek designs from Scandinavia and Japan. During this era, the often-imitated 1959 hanging egg chair, left, by Nanna and Jorgen Ditzel becomes a symbol of the swinging ’60s.
1971-79: Interest in Art Deco and Victoriana keeps classic rattan and wicker out of dumpsters, but the tropical look falls into dormancy.
1980-89: The sun-soaked style catches a new wave of popularity with set-in-Florida TV shows such as “Miami Vice” and “The Golden Girls.” Prewar rattan classics like fan-arm chairs, below, used on the set of the latter become highly collectible.
1990-95: The Sunset Marquis Hotel and Villas in West Hollywood, above, reinterprets Tropi-California in rooms decorated with floral prints on European furniture. The lounge music revival leads to a new appreciation of midcentury tiki kitsch. Former decorator Joe O’Brien opens the surf-centric Cabana Joe’s in Venice.
1996-99: As Buddhism becomes hip, Asian influences join Moroccan accents in Tropi-California design. Warisan, a Balinese antique emporium and design firm, opens a retail shop on Beverly Boulevard in Los Angeles. Schiffer publishes “Rattan: Tropical Comfort Throughout the House.”
2000-04: Orange County artist Shag mixes Polynesian imagery with midcentury furniture for gallery paintings and commercial illustrations. The tiki torch ceremony becomes must-see TV on “Survivor.” The 50-year-old rattan firm McGuire releases a collection by designer Barbara Barry. Tommy Bahama and Cabana Joe’s become household names. National Geographic licenses its name for tropical furniture by Palecek like the Serengeti chair, above.
by Pam Kueber on January 11, 2008
Palm Springs Stephan responded to the call for info on my recent post on Chinese artwork that seemed so popular in room interiors of the day. This was so interesting, it seemed like it should be a full post in its own right. I want one of these SO MUCH! Stephan writes:
“On the Chinese paintings ….
“They are not actually kings, at least not the man in the illustration shown. Chinese emperors (”emperor” being the more correct title) were always depicted wearing bright yellow, a color usually reserved for imperial use. And the headgear of an emperor was usually somewhat more elaborate. The man depicted in this painting is probably an aristocrat or very wealthy person, most likely also a scholar (scholars being must revered in imperial China). An expert on Chinese costume could tell you exactly what his social position was based on his gown and headgear. And his name and titles are probably inscribed along one border of the portrait, though they are not visible in the illustration.
“The portaits were almost always done as a male-female, husband-first wife pair. The couple might also be shown together in a single painting, sometimes with their male children standing behind them. Keeping portraits of one’s ancestors was an ancient Chinese tradition, and portraits of this type are known dating back over 1000 years. But by the late nineteenth century, paintings were replaced by photographic portraits, so that there are far fewer paintings from after about 1880-1890.
“The paintings became more commonly available in the west after WWII and Mao Tse Tung’s communist takeover of what was then called “mainland” China. Maoists attempted to end ancestor veneration, especially during the Cultural Revolution of the late 1960s, and portraits of this type were seized and exported for sale. But in recent years, Chinese culture has begun to re-embrace its own history, and these paintings have become ever more pricey as the Chinese attempt to re-acquire them. I suspect if you found an original today, even one from the very early 20th century, you could expect to pay in the thousands or tens of thousands for it. For an emperor wearing imperial yellow and with his names and titles inscribed, expect to mortgage the house to buy it.
“But you can probably find prints if you look for them. And you can also buy modern reproductions of fairly good quality directly from China. See http://www.orient-curio.com/crafts/painting/pt1.htm. There is also a seller on Ebay that has a large number of these reproduction paintings for sale. But don’t be fooled: despite any seller’s description to the contrary, these items are without doubt newly-made to look old, and not 100% authentic, so “buyer beware”!
On a personal note, I do remember that my parents had wallpaper in the dining room that was meant to recreate an Asian landscape painting. And sculptures of cranes and herons, both important symbols in Chinese iconography, were popular as well, though that was the mid 1960s rather than the 1950s.”
Many thanks again, Stephan. Note, the paintings above are from the site Stephan points us to.
