William Haines Lucite and Wood Covered Box
View Similar Items
William Haines Lucite and Wood Covered Box
About the Item
- Creator:William Billy Haines (Designer)
- Dimensions:Height: 4.5 in (11.43 cm)Width: 11.75 in (29.85 cm)Depth: 6.75 in (17.15 cm)
- Style:Mid-Century Modern (Of the Period)
- Materials and Techniques:
- Place of Origin:
- Period:
- Date of Manufacture:1956
- Condition:Wear consistent with age and use.
- Seller Location:Los Angeles, CA
- Reference Number:Seller: 05312131stDibs: U12051379531327
William Billy Haines
Plenty of prolific designers started off on slightly different tracks than those on which they ended up, but rarely did they begin their careers in a totally separate industry like William “Billy” Haines did. Before he gained a reputation as a furniture designer and decorator to Hollywood’s biggest and brightest, Haines was himself a star of the silver screen.
After leaving his native Virginia as a young man, Haines earned modeling and acting jobs in New York City and then won a Goldwyn Studios talent contest in the early 1920s. The next frontier was California, where he would go on to appear in more than 50 films. His acting career was halted abruptly in 1933, allegedly because he refused to leave his partner, British footballer Jimmy Shields, at the request of his representation at MGM Studios. Whether it was the fact that Haines was one half of Hollywood’s first openly gay marriage or that there were other factors at play, MGM cofounder Louis B. Mayer canceled his contract.
Luckily for Haines, he had nurtured a side career that kept him on Hollywood’s radar: He was a prominent antiques dealer on La Brea Avenue in Los Angeles. Haines dedicated himself full-time to both dealing and designing furniture as soon as his tenure as a leading man came to an end.
Haines collaborated with the era’s biggest names in architecture and created a desert living room for the 1939 Golden Gate International Exposition in San Francisco that featured walls made of California Joshua wood and a painting by Georgia O’ Keeffe. He paid close attention to lighting design, employed hand-painted wallpaper and favored featuring Chinese ceramics alongside Chippendale chairs and ottomans for entertaining. His most famous clients included Joan Crawford, Carole Lombard, Betsy Bloomingdale and more. Crawford played a significant role in kick-starting his career when she commissioned Haines to decorate her entire home in Brentwood.
Haines was such an esteemed tastemaker that he’s among those credited with having cemented Hollywood Regency as a reputable design style. (Its origins are owed to influential interior decorator Dorothy Draper.) While he gravitated toward the look of chinoiserie and English furniture, his signature was low-level seating and giltwood accents. Haines’s interior design style was so in vogue that Nancy Reagan became one of his biggest fans and eventually enlisted Ted Graber, Haines’s successor following his death in 1973, to decorate several private and public rooms in the White House.
Find a collection of vintage William Haines lounge chairs, lighting fixtures and other furniture on 1stDibs.
- Italian Glazed Ceramic Decorative Box Signed BaldelliBy BaldelliLocated in Los Angeles, CABadelli Mid Century Itallian Decorative Box with Lid, 1960's. Signed Italy 669 Fused and Glazed GlassCategory
Vintage 1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Decorative Boxes
MaterialsCeramic, Glass
- Tommi Parzinger (1901 - 1981) Pair of Brass and Glass Candle HoldersBy Tommi ParzingerLocated in Los Angeles, CATommi Parzinger (1901 - 1981) Pair of Brass and Glass Candle holders. Parzinger's works were referred as "high-style modernism", which represented a "more idiosyncratic, rarefied m...Category
Vintage 1950s American Mid-Century Modern Candle Sconces
MaterialsBrass
- Polished Steel and Leather BenchLocated in Los Angeles, CAUpholstered Beige Leather Bench with polished steel legs and edge. Supported underneath with a steel cross frame. Excellent quality, heavy, sturdy...Category
Vintage 1970s American Modern Benches
MaterialsSteel
- Karl Springer Pair of Bullet LightsBy Karl SpringerLocated in Los Angeles, CAKarl Springer Designed Pair of Bullet Lights. Polished brass with gun metal finish. Original honey comb diffuser. Heavy, and solid, with felt bottom. These lights can be floor light...Category
Vintage 1970s American Mid-Century Modern Floor Lamps
MaterialsBrass
$5,400 / set - Karl Springer Pair of Black Leather Arm ChairsBy Karl SpringerLocated in Los Angeles, CAKarl Springer designed, Pair of black "Bentwood" arm chairs Authentic and documented. Lacquered wood with leather upholstery. Ready for use. The color is black. Good example of this...Category
Vintage 1970s American Mid-Century Modern Side Chairs
MaterialsWood, Leather
$3,800 / set - Aldo Turo Cocktail TrayBy Aldo TuraLocated in Los Angeles, CACocktail Tray created by Italian Designer, Aldo Tura, 1960's. Lacquered goat skin over mahogany with metal railings. Durable finish. Top quality materials and craftsmanship. 12" W ...Category
Vintage 1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Platters and Serveware
MaterialsGoatskin, Mahogany
- Lucite Covered BoxLocated in West Palm Beach, FLLucite and Silvered Metal Covered Box Similar to the work of Gabrielle Crespi Unidentified label present The curved interior creates an optic appearanceCategory
Vintage 1970s American Decorative Boxes
MaterialsLucite
- Covered Wood BoxLocated in West Palm Beach, FLCovered wood box in the form of a tree trunk.Category
Vintage 1970s American Decorative Boxes
MaterialsWood
$575 - Art Deco Wood and Lucite Box, France 1940sBy Studio Art DecoLocated in Atlanta, GAThis elegant hand-carved modernist Art Deco decorative lidded box was crafted in France circa 1940. The rectangular shape has solid wood and crystal clear Lucite on the sides and is ...Category
Vintage 1940s French Art Deco Decorative Boxes
MaterialsLucite, Wood
- Burl Wood & Tortoiseshell Effect Lucite Box, Italy, 1970sBy Willy RizzoLocated in Rome, ITRectangular box in tortoiseshell-effect lucite and burl wood frame made in Italy in the 1970s.Category
Vintage 1970s Italian Mid-Century Modern Decorative Boxes
MaterialsMetal, Aluminum
- Leather Covered Tobacco Box, or Box, in Ceramic and Wood Brown, France 1940Located in Auribeau sur Siagne, FRThis snuffbox, or tobacco box, covered with leather, brown in color. The underside of the lid is made of wood, and the inside of the pot is ceramic. The object has been signed by the...Category
Vintage 1940s Art Deco Snuff Boxes and Tobacco Boxes
MaterialsCeramic, Leather, Wood
- Lucite and Chrome Box, Italy, 1970sLocated in Naples, ITRare decorative lucite and chrome cube-shaped box. Made in Italy in the 1970s.Category
Vintage 1970s Italian Mid-Century Modern Decorative Boxes
MaterialsChrome