Kip Stewart Magazine Rack

While vintage Drexel Furniture dining tables, dressers and other pieces remain highly desirable for enthusiasts of mid-century modern design, the manufacturer's story actually begins decades before its celebrated postwar-era Declaration line took shape.

In 1903, in the small town of Drexel in the foothills of North Carolina’s Blue Ridge Mountains, six partners came together to found a company that would become one of the country’s leading furniture producers. The first offerings from Drexel Furniture were simple: a bed, washstand and bureau all crafted from native oakwood, sold as a bedroom suite for $14.50.

One of Drexel’s early innovations was to employ staff designers, something the company initiated in the 1930s. This focus on design, which few other furniture companies were committing to at the time, allowed Drexel to respond to a variety of new and traditional tastes. This included making pieces inspired by historic European furniture, like the popular French Provincial–style Touraine bedroom and dining group that borrowed its curves from Louis XV-era furniture. Others replicated the ornate details of 18th-century chinoiserie or the embellishments of Queen Anne furniture. Always ready to adapt to new customer demands, during World War II, Drexel built a sturdy desk designed especially for General Douglas MacArthur.

In the postwar era, Drexel embraced the clean lines of mid-century modernism with the Declaration collection designed by Stewart MacDougall and Kipp Stewart that featured elegant credenzas and more made in walnut, and the Profile and Projection collections designed with sculptural shapes by John Van Koert. In the 1970s, Drexel introduced high-end furniture in a Mediterranean style.

Drexel changed hands and visions throughout the years. It was managed by one of the original partners — Samuel Huffman — until 1935, at which time his son Robert O. Huffman took over as president. It was then that the company began to expand, with several acquisitions of competitors in the 1950s, including Table Rock Furniture, the Heritage Furniture Co. and more.

With the manufacturer’s success — spurred by its embrace of advertising in home and garden magazines — it opened more factories in both North and South Carolina. By 1957, the company that had started with a factory of 50 workers had 2,300 employees and was selling its furniture nationwide.

Drexel underwent a series of name changes in its long history. Its acquisition of Southern Desk Company in 1960 bolstered its production of institutional furniture for dormitories, classrooms, churches and laboratories.

In the following decades, contracts with government agencies, hotels, schools and hospitals brought its high-quality furniture to a global audience. U.S. Plywood-Champion Papers bought Drexel Enterprises in 1968, and it became Drexel Heritage Furnishings.

In 2014, the last Drexel Heritage plant, in Morganton, North Carolina, reportedly closed its doors. The company rebranded as Drexel in 2017.

The vintage Drexel furniture for sale on 1stDibs includes end tables designed by Edward Wormley, walnut side tables designed by Kipp Stewart and lots more.

Antique and vintage magazine racks and stands provide an easy organization option for storing your favorite periodicals without tucking them away out of sight.

The first magazine in America was published in the 1700s. Newspapers, however, are much older. As the popularity of magazines and newspapers grew, so did the need to store and organize them.

In your living room, a well-designed vintage magazine rack will help display your magazines in an orderly fashion while maintaining the stylistic integrity of your space. This accessory will keep clutter to a minimum, and, best of all, it encourages visitors to read at their leisure. Adding a rack or stand to your home office or reading nook is going to help you keep your desk and coffee table tidy. And given that so many have been made over the years, the right magazine rack to work cohesively in your space no matter your furniture style shouldn’t be hard to find.

Wood magazine racks, no matter the era of origin, are going to bring warmth to your entertainment room and will sit snugly alongside your organic modern furnishings. Mid-century modern magazine racks are also versatile in that regard, with furniture designers at the time working in teak (a preferred material for makers of the period), bamboo and rattan and exploring different forms and provocative embellishments. Alternatively, a streamlined metal magazine rack might be a better fit, texture-wise, if you’re looking for clean lines and an overall polished style to complement a minimalist approach.

Browse the selection of antique and vintage magazine racks and stands on 1stDibs to find the perfect accent piece for any space.