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.
$5,600 / item
Vintage Paul Evans Slate Top Server for Directional
By Paul Evans
Located in Pittsburgh, PA
Striking mid-century credenza by Paul Evans for Directional, featuring a patchwork brass facade, his iconic cityscape design, and a slate top. Behind the two push latch doors reveal ...
Slate, Brass
$6,750 / set
H 8 in W 3 in D 12 in
Set Paul Evans for Directional Chrome Brass Cityscape Shelf Brackets Console
By Paul Evans
Located in Pemberton, NJ
Stunning set signed Paul Evans for Directional shelf brackets or console tables. The glass is not pictured but is included and is 12" w x 48" l and is brand new. This set is truly fa...
Brass, Chrome
$4,050
H 30.25 in W 40 in D 20 in
Paul McCobb for Directional Black Lacquered Flip Top Server Bar Cart, Refinished
By Calvin Furniture, Directional, Paul McCobb
Located in South Bend, IN
An exceptional Mid-Century Modern flip top extension rolling bar cart server By Paul McCobb for Directional and produced by Calvin Furniture, "Calvin Group" USA, 1950s Black lacqu...
Brass
$25,000
H 32.25 in W 84.13 in D 22 in
Paul Evans CityScape Sideboard for Directional Brass Tiles & Burl Wood Doors
By Paul Evans, Directional
Located in St. Louis, MO
Rare 1970s Paul Evans Cityscape sideboard with waterfall ends for Directional with brass tiles and book matched Burl wood doors. Interior laminated in black...
Brass
$7,195
H 32 in W 60.5 in D 20 in
Paul Evans for Directional Mid Century Patchwork Burlwood T Bar Console Table
By Directional, Paul Evans
Located in Franklin Park, IL
Paul Evans for Directional Mid Century Patchwork Burlwood T Bar Console Table This T bar console table measures: 60.5 wide x 20 deep x 32 inches high Restored - Mint Condition! Rea...
Burl
Signed Paul Evans Cityscape Bar Cart 'PE 200' Series for Directional
By Paul Evans, Directional
Located in Brooklyn, NY
Beautiful signed Mid-Century Modern bar cabinet by Paul Evans for Directional. A wonderful patchwork design with a flip top and two cabinet doors below. Sleek case piece that looks g...
Chrome
$1,600
H 38 in W 31 in D 18 in
White Furniture Italian Provincial Neoclassical Walnut Flip Top Buffet Server
Located in Dayton, OH
Vintage White Furniture Company Italian Provincial / Regency Style Fliptop Sever or Dry Bar, Circa 1970s. Features a rectangular form made from walnut with over lower cabinet that o...
Walnut
$4,760Sale Price|30% Off
H 16 in W 72.25 in D 16 in
Ronnie Brahms for H. Sacks Wall Mounted Console Server
By H Sacks & Sons
Located in Hanover, MA
Gracious and at once both neoclassical and modern, this wall-mounted buffet console was designed by the late Ronnie Brahms and produced by the family own...
Walnut
$48,500
H 31.75 in W 42 in D 21.75 in
Paul Evans 'PE-32' Patchwork Copper Cabinet with Slate Top for Directional, 1968
By Directional, Paul Evans
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Stunning 'PE-32' copper clad bar cabinet on casters by Paul Evans for Directional, produced in 1968 per original receipt which we have a copy of...
Brass, Copper, Pewter
$1,375
H 32 in W 38 in D 18 in
White Furniture Mahogany & Burl Mandarin Chinoiserie Flip Top Buffet Server
Located in Dayton, OH
1980s White Furniture Company Mandarin dining flip top server or dry bar. Features a rectangular form with lacquer, mahogany and burlwood. The top has a unique sliding mechanism an...
Brass
$54,000
H 31.75 in W 72 in D 21.25 in
Paul Evans Sculpted Bronze, Patchwork Steel & Slate Cabinet, 1968
By Paul Evans
Located in Dallas, TX
Exceptional and highly unusual cabinet by American designer and sculptor Paul Evans, executed in 1968. The substantial case is clad entirely in hand-worked, blackened patchwork steel...
Slate, Cut Steel
$90,995
H 32.25 in W 72.25 in D 18.25 in
Paul Evans for Directional Mid Century Copper Pewter Bronze Patchwork Credenza
By Paul Evans, Directional
Located in Franklin Park, IL
Paul Evans for Directional Mid Century Copper, Pewter and Bronze Patchwork Credenza This credenza measures: 72.25 wide x 18.25 deep x 32.25 inches high Excellent Vintage Condition....
Bronze, Copper, Pewter
$36,000
H 80.01 in W 99.22 in D 17.41 in
Paul Evans for Directional 'PE 68' Wall Unit in Bronzed Resin and Glass
By Paul Evans
Located in Waalwijk, NL
Paul Evans, Paul Evans Studio for Directional, wall shelves, model 'PE 68', epoxy bronzed resin over wood, glass, United States, 1970s Grand wall unit by Paul Evans, designed for Di...
Glass, Resin, Wood
Spectacular Signed Paul Evans Cityscape Credenza
By Paul Evans
Located in Miami, FL
A chromium polished steel cabinet with three pairs of doors each concealing shelved interiors on either side flanking a cupboard with a single steel decorated drawer split into compa...
Steel
Paul Evans Cityscape Cabinet, 1970
By Paul Evans
Located in Chicago, IL
Paul Evans Cityscape cabinet, 1970.
Brass, Chrome
Rare Paul Evans Sculpted Bronze Brutalist Sideboard, USA, 1968
By Paul Evans
Located in Miami, FL
Unique custom "sculpted bronze" brutalist cabinet by Paul Evans, USA circa 1968 Exceptional abstract forms, solid volumes and powerful brutal shapes, Two bi-fold doors concealing st...
Slate, Bronze
Paul Evans Sculpted Bronze Brutalist Sideboard, USA, 1972
By Directional, Paul Evans
Located in Miami, FL
Paul Evans studio for Directional, Sculpted-bronze series cabinet Exceptional abstract forms, solid volumes and powerful brutal shapes, Four doors concealing storage with adjustable ...
Slate, Bronze
Paul Evans Credenza for Directional
By Paul Evans
Located in Los Angeles, CA
An amazing Paul Evans credenza or buffet. Made for Directional. Have four drawers and two center doors. Central section is covered in leather and has one interior shelf. Drawers have...
Steel
Sculpted and Patinated Bronze Buffet by Paul Evans
By Paul Evans
Located in Montreal, QC
Rare sculpted and patinated bronze buffet by Paul Evans fitted with four-cabinet doors and typical inset slate top.
Paul Evans Burl and Brass Breakfront Sideboard for Directional
By Directional, Paul Evans
Located in Brooklyn, NY
This beautiful three-piece vintage breakfront features backlit display cases with glass shelves paired with a spacious centre cabinet for concealed ...
Paul Evans PE40 Welded Cabinet
By Paul Evans
Located in Dallas, TX
A Paul Evans welded front cabinet with patchwork case and insert slate tops.
Paul Evans, Welded Steel Deep Relief Console, USA, circa 1970
By Paul Evans
Located in New York, NY
An outstanding example of an Evans' welded steel sculptural designs, this unique console is rendered in a polychrome steel, patinated bronze, cleft slates and wood. Exquisite jewel-t...
Patchwork Burl Credenza by Paul Evans
By Paul Evans
Located in Dallas, TX
A large-scale Cityscape cabinet in all burl veneer patchwork. Designed by Paul Evans for Directional.
Paul Evans Signed Cityscape Credenza
By Paul Evans, Directional
Located in San Juan Capistrano, CA
Paul Evans Studio for Directional Cityscape credenza. Signed. 1970's.
A Two-Door Chrome and Brass Cityscape Console by Paul Evans
By Paul Evans
Located in New York, NY
A Two-Door Chrome and Brass Cityscape Console by Paul Evans for Directional, USA. A two-door console on a platform base in Evans' iconic patchwork design finished in mirror polish...
Brass