A designer and sculptor, Paul Evans was a wild card of late 20th century modernism. A leading light of the American Studio Furniture movement, Evans’s sideboards, credenzas, coffee tables and other work manifests a singular aesthetic sense, as well as a seemingly contradictory appreciation for both folk art forms and for new materials and technologies.
Evans’s primary material was metal, not wood, which was favored by his fellow studio designers, and Bucks County, Pennsylvania, neighbors George Nakashima and Phillip Lloyd Powell. He trained in metallurgy and studied at the Cranbrook Academy of Art, the famed crucible of modern design and art in suburban Detroit. For a time early in his career, Evans also worked at Sturbridge Village, a historical “living museum” in Massachusetts, where he gave demonstrations as a costumed silversmith.
Evans’s earliest work unites these influences. The pieces that made his reputation are known as “sculpted-front” cabinets: wood cases faced with box-like high-relief patinated steel mounts laid out in a grid pattern. Each mount contains a metal emblem, or glyph, and the effect is that of a brawny quilt.
Evans’s later work falls into three distinct style groups. His sculpted-bronze pieces, begun in the mid-1960s, show Evans at his most expressive. He employed a technique in which resin is hand-shaped, and later sprayed with a metal coating, allowing for artistic nuance in the making of chairs, tables and case pieces. Later in the decade and into the 1970s, Evans produced his Argente series for celebrated manufacturer Directional (a brand known to vintage mid-century modern furniture collectors everywhere): consoles and other furniture forms that feature aluminum and pigment-infused metal surfaces welded into abstract organic forms and patterns.
Last, Evans's Cityscape design series — a milestone in the history of brutalist design — meshed perfectly with the sleek, “high tech” sensibility of the later ’70s. Evans constructed boxy forms and faced them with irregular mosaic patterns that mixed rectangular plaques of chromed steel, bronze or burlwood veneer. These, like all of Paul Evans’s designs, are both useful and eye-catching. But their appeal has another, more visceral quality: these pieces have clearly been touched by an artist’s hand.
Find a collection of authentic Paul Evans furniture today on 1stDibs.
Paul Evans & Phillip Lloyd Powell, Very Rare, Walnut and Pewter Bottle
By Phillip Lloyd Powell, Paul Evans
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This is a very rare bottle. Only 5 were made because it was very difficult to make. This one was a gift to one of our clients.
Pewter
$588 / item
H 14.97 in W 6.7 in D 3.94 in
Vase Genke CS3 - Contemporary Minimalist Decor in Brass and Steel by Noom
By Kateryna Sokolova, NOOM
Located in Paris, FR
Genke Vase — part of the Suprematic Collection by NOOM, designed by Kateryna Sokolova, embodies the brand’s signature fusion of contemporary, bold, sculptural design with functional ...
Brass, Steel
$1,272 / item
H 11.42 in W 7.49 in D 3.94 in
Numbered Edition Modern Malevich Vase CSL2 in Oxidized Copper and Steel by NOOM
By Kateryna Sokolova, NOOM
Located in Paris, FR
Malevich vase, one of the vases from the "Suprematic" collection. Collection inspired by the geometric works of the great Suprematist Kazimir Malevich. Suprematism is a modernist mo...
Copper, Steel
$588 / item
H 14.97 in W 6.7 in D 3.94 in
Genke Vase CS2 - Bold Minimalist design in Copper and Painted Steel by Noom
By Kateryna Sokolova, NOOM
Located in Paris, FR
Genke Vase — part of the Suprematic Collection by NOOM, designed by Kateryna Sokolova, embodies the brand’s signature fusion of contemporary, bold, sculptural design with functional ...
Copper, Steel
$742 / item
H 14.18 in W 5.91 in D 7.09 in
Gabo Vase CS7 - Sculptural Minimalist Design in Copper and Steel by Noom
By NOOM, Kateryna Sokolova
Located in Paris, FR
Gabo vase, one of the vases from the "Suprematic" collection. Collection inspired by the geometric works of the great Suprematist Kazimir Malevich. Suprematism is a modernist moveme...
Copper, Steel
$1,250
H 1.5 in W 4 in D 2.5 in
Paul Evans, Phillip Lloyd Powell Style Petite Rosewood Box with Brass Inlay
By Paul Evans, Phillip Lloyd Powell
Located in Bainbridge, NY
American mid century rosewood and brass inlay small oval accessory box in the style of Paul Evans and Phillip Lloyd, circa 1960. Featuring a handcrafted clam shaped 2-piece smooth da...
Brass
Masons Ironstone Bottle Vase in Chinese Dragon Pattern very rare, circa 1820
By Mason's Ironstone
Located in Lincoln, Lincolnshire
This is a very rare ironstone vase, in the Chinese style, all hand painted in the coloured dragon pattern, made by the Mason's factory in the early 19th century. Both the vase shape and the pattern are very rare. The vase has a bottle shape with a fairly tall neck, having two dolphin head handles, with attached loops. (NOTES ON SHAPE This vase style is a copy of a much earlier Chinese bronze vase shape produced in the Ming, Hongwu period of 1368 - 1398, which had similar decorative animal head side handles with loops. ( See the book Chinese Ceramics by He Li, page 216, published by Thames & Hudson. ). Also On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 204; The square handles and rings illustrate the metal origins of the shape of the vase. Similar examples have been excavated in Chinese tombs dating to the fifteenth and sixteenth century, suggesting that the shape was particularly popular at that time.) This vase is beautifully hand decorated in a more complex variant of the Coloured Chinese Dragon pattern, with strong coloured enamels depicting a green dragon on one side and a pink dragon...
Pottery, Ironstone
$700
H 5.99 in W 2.76 in D 2.76 in
Japanese Colorful Antique Sake Bottle / 'Kutani Ware' / 1830-1900 / Small Vase
Located in Sammu-shi, Chiba
Kutani ware is a color-painted porcelain produced around Kanazawa City in the southern part of Ishikawa Prefecture, starting in 1655. It features a colorfu...
Pottery
$8,250Sale Price|44% Off
H 6.13 in W 16.13 in D 8.13 in
Paul Evans Box Patchwork, Copper, Bronze, Pewter, Hinged, Signed
By Paul Evans
Located in New York, NY
Paul Evans Box, Copper, Bronze, Pewter, Hinged, Signed. Large scale hinged patinated mixed metal textured box with painted red wood interior and lined w...
Bronze, Copper, Pewter
$1,590 / item
H 14.97 in W 6.7 in D 3.94 in
Numbered Edition Modern Vase Genke CSL3 in Hammered Brass and Steel by Noom
By NOOM, Kateryna Sokolova
Located in Paris, FR
Genke vase, one of the vases from the "Suprematic" collection. The collection inspired by the geometric works of the great Suprematist Kazimir Malevich. Suprematism is a modernist mo...
Brass, Steel
$685 / item
H 15.36 in W 7.88 in D 5.91 in
Ekster Metal Vase CS10 - Contemporary Minimalist in Copper and Steel by Noom
By NOOM, Kateryna Sokolova
Located in Paris, FR
Ekster Vase — part of the Suprematic Collection by NOOM — is a sculptural tribute to the genius of Kazimir Malevich and the pure geometric vision of the Suprematist movement. Born in...
Copper, Steel
$7,200Sale Price / set|20% Off
H 20.5 in Dm 3.25 in
Paul Evans Rare and Early Candlesticks, Set of Three, 1953
By Paul Evans
Located in Chicago, IL
Paul Evans Rare and Early Candlesticks, Set of Three, 1953 Sandblasted pewter Each: 20½ h × 3¼ dia in (52 × 8 cm) Provenance: The Artist Collection of Dorsey Reading Exhibited: Paul...
Pewter
A Rare Paul Ysart Attributed Close-Pack Millefiori Art Glass Paperweight Bottle
By Paul Ysart
Located in New York, NY
This very rare Bottle is attributed to Paul Ysart, a Scottish glass artist known for his work in millefiori and paperweight techniques. The piece is executed in clear glass, encasing...
Art Glass