Established in 1907 by Finley H. Coffey and Dr. A.A. Kent, a contemporary and competitor of furniture makers John Bernhardt and James Broyhill, the Kent-Coffey Manufacturing Company in Lenoir, North Carolina, developed a name for itself by designing and mass-producing durable, affordable and stylish bedroom furniture, dressers, tables and other items.

Consider Kent-Coffey a precursor to IKEA, with sturdy oak and mahogany furniture rather than particleboard structures and an American-design bent rather than a Swedish one. The company's mid-century modern furniture, under the leadership of Finley’s son Harold, took off. A magazine ad from the era for the brand’s Perspecta collection positioned a minimalist bedroom set front and center, with its walnut and rosewood dresser, an elegant nine-drawer piece that rested on tapered legs and featured gorgeous sculptural details carved into its drawer fronts, occupying most of the page’s real estate. The materials for Kent-Coffey furniture were sourced locally, as the company touted its relationship with the Lilly Company in nearby High Points, North Carolina, as a supplier of its mahogany, for example.

In 1964, Kent-Coffey Manufacturing Company was sold to Magnavox (but reportedly operated as a wholly owned subsidiary thereafter), and later, in 1983, the company became part of the furniture branch of the Singer Company (of the sewing-machine fame). Singer shuttered its furniture division in the late 1990s.

Today, as is the case with most of the sophisticated furniture designed in postwar America, work that originated at Kent-Coffey is hard to come by.

Previously owned walnut headboards and vintage bedroom dressers with Formica tops from the company’s Perspecta line and sandalwood continental dressers, for example, are highly valued by collectors. Kent-Coffey’s various mid-century modern lines — such as Goldenaire and Town House — were always clearly branded with identifiers such as drawer markings or stamps on the underside of its coveted end tables.

Find vintage Kent-Coffey case pieces and cabinets, nightstands and other furniture on 1stDibs.

A Close Look at mid-century-modern Furniture

Organically shaped, clean-lined and elegantly simple are three terms that well describe vintage mid-century modern furniture. The style, which emerged primarily in the years following World War II, is characterized by pieces that were conceived and made in an energetic, optimistic spirit by creators who believed that good design was an essential part of good living.

ORIGINS OF MID-CENTURY MODERN FURNITURE DESIGN

Emerged during the mid-20th century
Informed by European modernism, Bauhaus, International style, Scandinavian modernism and Frank Lloyd Wright’s architecture
A heyday of innovation in postwar America
Experimentation with new ideas, new materials and new forms flourished in Scandinavia, Italy, the former Czechoslovakia and elsewhere in Europe

CHARACTERISTICS OF MID-CENTURY MODERN FURNITURE DESIGN

Simplicity, organic forms, clean lines
A blend of neutral and bold Pop art colors
Use of natural and man-made materials — alluring woods such as teak, rosewood and oak; steel, fiberglass and molded plywood
Light-filled spaces with colorful upholstery
Glass walls and an emphasis on the outdoors
Promotion of functionality

MID-CENTURY MODERN FURNITURE DESIGNERS TO KNOW

Charles and Ray Eames
Eero Saarinen
Milo Baughman
Florence Knoll
Harry Bertoia
Isamu Noguchi
George Nelson
Danish modernists Hans Wegner and Arne Jacobsen, whose emphasis on natural materials and craftsmanship influenced American designers and vice versa

ICONIC MID-CENTURY MODERN FURNITURE DESIGNS

VINTAGE MID-CENTURY MODERN FURNITURE ON 1STDIBS

The mid-century modern era saw leagues of postwar American architects and designers animated by new ideas and new technology. The lean, functionalist International-style architecture of Le Corbusier and Bauhaus eminences Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Walter Gropius had been promoted in the United States during the 1930s by Philip Johnson and others. New building techniques, such as “post-and-beam” construction, allowed the International-style schemes to be realized on a small scale in open-plan houses with long walls of glass.

Materials developed for wartime use became available for domestic goods and were incorporated into mid-century modern furniture designs. Charles and Ray Eames and Eero Saarinen, who had experimented extensively with molded plywood, eagerly embraced fiberglass for pieces such as the La Chaise and the Womb chair, respectively.

Architect, writer and designer George Nelson created with his team shades for the Bubble lamp using a new translucent polymer skin and, as design director at Herman Miller, recruited the Eameses, Alexander Girard and others for projects at the legendary Michigan furniture manufacturer.

Harry Bertoia and Isamu Noguchi devised chairs and tables built of wire mesh and wire struts. Materials were repurposed too: The Danish-born designer Jens Risom created a line of chairs using surplus parachute straps for webbed seats and backrests.

The Risom lounge chair was among the first pieces of furniture commissioned and produced by legendary manufacturer Knoll, a chief influencer in the rise of modern design in the United States, thanks to the work of Florence Knoll, the pioneering architect and designer who made the firm a leader in its field. The seating that Knoll created for office spaces — as well as pieces designed by Florence initially for commercial clients — soon became desirable for the home.

As the demand for casual, uncluttered furnishings grew, more mid-century furniture designers caught the spirit.

Classically oriented creators such as Edward Wormley, house designer for Dunbar Inc., offered such pieces as the sinuous Listen to Me chaise; the British expatriate T.H. Robsjohn-Gibbings switched gears, creating items such as the tiered, biomorphic Mesa table. There were Young Turks such as Paul McCobb, who designed holistic groups of sleek, blond wood furniture, and Milo Baughman, who espoused a West Coast aesthetic in minimalist teak dining tables and lushly upholstered chairs and sofas with angular steel frames.

As the collection of vintage mid-century modern chairs, dressers, coffee tables and other furniture for the living room, dining room, bedroom and elsewhere on 1stDibs demonstrates, this period saw one of the most delightful and dramatic flowerings of creativity in design history.

Finding the Right night-stands for You

Nightstands are traditionally designed with functionality in mind. Prior to the advent of indoor plumbing, early nightstands contained a porcelain chamber pot in a cabinet that provided a convenient and private alternative to visiting the outhouse. Today, antique, new and vintage nightstands — which are pieces of bedroom furniture that are often called bedside tables — are typically low-profile tables that are positioned alongside one’s bed or elsewhere in a bedroom.

A nightstand is mainly used to store or support objects that may be needed at night, such as a phone, a book or a small carafe of water. But this table can easily be personalized. "I’ve got a huge vintage lamp, and when I’m lucky, I’ll have fresh flowers in a bud vase," Chicago interior designer Summer Thornton tells 1stDibs about styling a nightstand.

Whether you take a minimalist approach to bedside table decor or prefer to top it with stacks of books and other essentials that you'd like to have at arm's length — this furniture can also change the look and feel of a bedroom, rendering any interior more comfortable and cozy.

Practicality plays a prominent role in perfecting your bedside space, but the decision to furnish your bedroom with a cherrywood mid-century modern nightstand or an antique mahogany piece can have an impact on how you start your day.

Take the first step in setting the perfect tone of your morning — browse the wide selection of Art Deco nightstands, burl-wood nightstands, oak nightstands and other antique and vintage nightstands on 1stDibs now.