Stendig Co. Stools
Stendig Co. played a pivotal role in introducing modern European furniture to the American market, thanks to the business acumen of founder Charles Stendig.
Around 1950, the Brooklyn, New York–born Stendig (1924–2024) worked for Raymor, a purveyor of modern china and accessories that is best known for distributing designer Russel Wright’s American Modern line of ceramics. While at Raymor, Stendig focused on the company’s less popular pieces that were made in Italy and Scandinavia, recognizing their potential for the American market. In 1955, he left the company and decided to establish Stendig Co.
That year, a chance encounter with a Finnish trade representative led him to furniture company Asko — one of the largest companies operating in Scandinavia. Asko invited him and Joseph Carreiro, a professor at the Philadelphia College of Art (now the University of the Arts), to help refine their designs.
At Asko’s production facility in Finland, Stendig met several renowned Finnish designers such as Ilmari Tapiovaara, Tapio Wirkkala and Eero Aarnio, the iconic Ball chair creator. Stendig’s trip there was a success, and Stendig Co. began importing Finnish furniture to the United States.
In 1956, the first Stendig Co. showroom opened in Manhattan. A year later, during a trip to Zurich, Stendig came across a Bauhaus–inspired furniture store featuring pieces by Swiss designers Kurt Thut, Hans Eichenberger and Robert Haussmann, the store’s co-owner. Following a meeting with Haussmann, Stendig became the retailer’s exclusive U.S. distributor.
Throughout the late 1950s and early 1960s, Stendig Co. imported and sold furniture from influential European designers, including Swiss designer Bruno Rey, Italian architect and industrial designer Vico Magistretti and Hungarian-American architect and designer Marcel Breuer, creator of the Wassily lounge chair.
By the late 1960s, Stendig Co. moved its headquarters to an expansive space on Manhattan’s East Side and opened showrooms in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Chicago, each home to the company’s striking collection of mid-century European armchairs, sofas, dining room chairs, coffee tables and other furnishings. Stendig’s founder was by then representing Italian manufacturers Poltronova and Gufram and bringing revolutionary works of Italian Radical design to American shores.
In 1971, Charles Stendig sold the company to Burlington Industries. He retired in 1976. Today Stendig’s European imports are coveted by interior designers and vintage furniture collectors, and he will be forever known as the man who introduced modern European design to the United States.
Find a range of vintage Stendig Co. furniture on 1stDibs.
Mid-20th Century Unknown Mid-Century Modern Stendig Co. Stools
Chrome
1950s Scandinavian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Stendig Co. Stools
Steel
Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Stendig Co. Stools
Chrome
20th Century American Bauhaus Stendig Co. Stools
Chrome
Early 2000s American Mid-Century Modern Stendig Co. Stools
Steel, Chrome
1970s American Mid-Century Modern Vintage Stendig Co. Stools
Chrome
1970s Mid-Century Modern Vintage Stendig Co. Stools
Chrome
Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Stendig Co. Stools
Chrome
2010s Italian Modern Stendig Co. Stools
Metal
1960s Belgian Brutalist Vintage Stendig Co. Stools
Bouclé, Wood
1960s American Mid-Century Modern Vintage Stendig Co. Stools
Chrome
1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Stendig Co. Stools
Steel
2010s American Modern Stendig Co. Stools
Chrome
1960s Spanish Brutalist Vintage Stendig Co. Stools
Metal
1970s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Stendig Co. Stools
Steel, Chrome
Late 20th Century Swiss Mid-Century Modern Stendig Co. Stools
Chrome
Mid-20th Century Swiss Mid-Century Modern Stendig Co. Stools
Wool, Bentwood
20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Stendig Co. Stools
Chrome
