Harvey Probber Artisan Collection
Vintage 1970s American Chairs
Cane
Vintage 1970s American Mid-Century Modern Side Tables
Cane, Wood
People Also Browsed
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Mid-Century Modern Dining Room Tables
Travertine
21st Century and Contemporary Swedish Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps
Textile
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Mid-Century Modern Chandeliers and...
Brass
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Mid-Century Modern Flush Mount
Metal, Brass
2010s American Mid-Century Modern Wall Lights and Sconces
Brass, Bronze, Enamel, Nickel
2010s American Mid-Century Modern Chandeliers and Pendants
Brass, Bronze, Enamel, Chrome, Aluminum, Nickel
21st Century and Contemporary British Organic Modern Wall Lights and Sco...
Plaster
Vintage 1950s Swedish Scandinavian Modern Night Stands
Teak
2010s American Modern Stools
Oak
2010s Austrian Jugendstil Chandeliers and Pendants
Silk
2010s American Ottomans and Poufs
Wool, Jute
21st Century and Contemporary American Mid-Century Modern Chandeliers an...
Brass
Vintage 1980s American Post-Modern Wall Lights and Sconces
Plaster
2010s Italian Modern Chandeliers and Pendants
Metal, Brass
2010s Mexican Mid-Century Modern Credenzas
Wood
2010s French International Style Daybeds
Fabric
Recent Sales
Vintage 1970s American Dining Room Chairs
Steel
Mid-20th Century Haitian Mid-Century Modern Card Tables and Tea Tables
Cane, Rattan, Wood
Harvey Probber for sale on 1stDibs
A popular designer who had his heyday from the late 1940s into the 1970s, Harvey Probber is one of the post-war American creative spirits whose work has been recently rediscovered by collectors. His designs are by-and-large simple and elegant, but his signal achievement was to pioneer one of the key innovations of mid-20th century furniture: sectional, or modular, seating.
Even as a teenager, the Brooklyn-born Probber was making sketches of furniture designs — and selling them to Manhattan furniture companies. He began working as a designer for an upholsterer once he finished high school and, apart from a few evening classes he took as an adult at Pratt Institute, he was self-taught about design and furniture making.
After wartime service — and a stint as a lounge singer — Probber founded his own company in the late 1940s. A lifelong familiarity with the needs of New York–apartment dwellers doubtless sparked his most noteworthy creation: a line of seating pieces in basic geometric shapes — wedges, squares, half-circles — that could be arranged and combined as needed. Modular furniture remained the core idea of Probber’s business throughout his career.
As a self-trained designer, Probber was never wed to any particular aesthetic. He preferred the simple lines now associated with mid-century modernism for their inherent practicality, but often used hardware to enliven the look of his pieces, or added elements — such as a ceramic insert in the center of a round dining table — that was visually interesting and could serve as a trivet. He gravitated toward bright fabrics with attractive, touchable textures that might be satin-like or nubbly. Above all, Probber insisted that the sofas, case goods and other products that came out of his Fall River, Massachusetts, factory be built to last.
“The quality of aging gracefully,” Probber once told an interviewer, is “design's fourth dimension.” This quality he realized: Probber furniture is just as useful and alluring now as it was when made — and maybe even more stylish.
Find a collection of vintage Harvey Probber side tables, sectional sofas, chairs and other furniture on 1stDibs.