Ward Bennett Ottomans and Poufs
Ward Bennett created everything from interiors and furniture to textiles and flatware. The unsung New York City-born modernist designer drew on the work of Le Corbusier and Auguste Rodin, studied art with the likes of Abstract Expressionist painter Hans Hofmann and counted legendary American luxury house Tiffany & Co. among his clients. For decades, Bennett created and filled spaces that were elegant, minimalist and deeply appealed to everyone who laid eyes on them.
Bennett left home and school at the young age of 13. He found work in Manhattan’s Garment District, and within a few years, Bennett traveled to Europe on behalf of a clothing manufacturer to gather ideas for modern garments. He lived abroad as a young man, and when he returned to New York, during the early 1940s, he assisted fashion entrepreneur Hattie Carnegie as a window dresser.
Bennett would also go on to share a sculpture studio with artist Louise Nevelson. He ventured into the world of jewelry design, creating necklaces, bracelets and other pieces with Richard Pousette-Dart. The Whitney Museum of American Art exhibited his sculptures, and it wouldn’t be long before the Museum of Modern Art included Bennett’s personal adornments with accessories by the likes of Alexander Calder, Harry Bertoia and Anni Albers in its 1946 “Modern Handmade Jewelry” show.
Bennett didn’t take the plunge into interior design work until he was 30 years old — his inaugural project was an apartment in Manhattan and his clients were family members. He had no formal training in architecture or decorating — and would ultimately design a mere handful of houses in his life — so for his inviting leather office chairs, marble-topped tables and sleek storage cabinets, Bennett relied only on what he learned in the fashion world. Soon, every time he redecorated his own home — an elaborate apartment comprising former maids’ quarters in New York City’s magnificent Dakota building — it earned splashy coverage in the newspapers.
Bennett’s client list eventually included David Rockefeller and Chase Manhattan Bank, Tiffany & Co., Sasaki, Italian industrialist Gianni Agnelli, and others, and during the 1970s he became in-house designer for Brickel Associates, a role that would endure for more than two decades. His work is on permanent view at the Museum of Modern Art and the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum in New York.
On 1stDibs, find vintage Ward Bennett seating, decorative objects and more.
1960s American Mid-Century Modern Vintage Ward Bennett Ottomans and Poufs
Metal
19th Century English Victorian Antique Ward Bennett Ottomans and Poufs
Leather, Hardwood
1970s American Bohemian Vintage Ward Bennett Ottomans and Poufs
Wicker
1960s Austrian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Ward Bennett Ottomans and Poufs
Chrome
Mid-20th Century North American Ward Bennett Ottomans and Poufs
Leather
1960s Mid-Century Modern Vintage Ward Bennett Ottomans and Poufs
Chrome
2010s American Ward Bennett Ottomans and Poufs
Fabric
Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Ward Bennett Ottomans and Poufs
Wicker
Mid-20th Century Mid-Century Modern Ward Bennett Ottomans and Poufs
Fabric, Silk, Upholstery, Wood
Mid-20th Century Danish Mid-Century Modern Ward Bennett Ottomans and Poufs
Mohair, Rosewood
1980s American Chesterfield Vintage Ward Bennett Ottomans and Poufs
Leather
2010s American Ward Bennett Ottomans and Poufs
Fabric
21st Century and Contemporary North American Modern Ward Bennett Ottomans and Poufs
Upholstery
1960s American Vintage Ward Bennett Ottomans and Poufs
Aluminum
Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Ward Bennett Ottomans and Poufs
Brass
1970s American Mid-Century Modern Vintage Ward Bennett Ottomans and Poufs
Chrome
1960s American Hollywood Regency Vintage Ward Bennett Ottomans and Poufs
Travertine, Aluminum
20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Ward Bennett Ottomans and Poufs
Aluminum
1960s American Mid-Century Modern Vintage Ward Bennett Ottomans and Poufs
Aluminum
Mid-20th Century American Modern Ward Bennett Ottomans and Poufs
Aluminum
