Heywood Wakefield Bedside Tables
View Similar Items
Heywood Wakefield Bedside Tables
About the Item
- Creator:Heywood-Wakefield Co. (Designer)
- Dimensions:Height: 26 in (66.04 cm)Width: 20 in (50.8 cm)Depth: 16 in (40.64 cm)
- Sold As:Set of 2
- Style:Mid-Century Modern (Of the Period)
- Place of Origin:
- Period:
- Date of Manufacture:1960s
- Condition:
- Seller Location:Brooklyn, NY
- Reference Number:Seller: 7922-P4089982NR1stDibs: LU9218797312
Heywood-Wakefield Co.
Created by the 19th-century merger of two venerable Massachusetts furniture makers, Heywood-Wakefield was one of the largest and most successful companies of its kind in the United States. In its early decades, the firm thrived by crafting affordable and hugely popular wicker pieces in traditional and historical styles. In the midst of the Great Depression, however, Heywood-Wakefield reinvented itself, creating instead the first modernist furnishings to be widely embraced in American households.
The Heywoods were five brothers from Gardner, Massachusetts, who in 1826 started a business making wooden chairs and tables in their family shed. As their company grew, they moved into the manufacture of furniture with steam-bent wood frames and cane or wicker seats, backs and sides. In 1897, they joined forces with a local rival, the Wakefield Rattan Company, whose founder, Cyrus Wakefield, got his start on the Boston docks buying up lots of discarded rattan, which was used as cushioning material in the holds of cargo ships, and transforming it into furnishings. The conglomerate initially did well with both early American style and woven pieces, but taste began to change at the turn of the 20th century and wicker furniture fell out of fashion. In 1930, the company brought in designer Gilbert Rohde, a champion of the Art Deco style. Before departing in 1932 to lead the Michigan furniture maker Herman Miller, Rohde created well-received sleek, bentwood chairs for Heywood-Wakefield and gave its colonial pieces a touch of Art Deco flair.
Committed to the new style, Heywood-Wakefield commissioned work from an assortment of like-minded designers, including Alfons Bach, W. Joseph Carr, Leo Jiranek and Count Alexis de Sakhnoffsky, a Russian nobleman who had made his name in Europe creating elegant automotive body designs.
In 1936, the company introduced its “Streamline Modern” group of furnishings, presenting a look that would define the company’s wares for another 30 years. The buoyantly bright, blond wood — maple initially, later birch — came in finishes such as amber “wheat” and pink-tinted “champagne.” The forms of the pieces, at once light and substantial, with softly contoured edges and little adornment beyond artful drawer pulls and knobs, were featured in lines with names such as “Sculptura,” “Crescendo” and “Coronet.” It was forward-looking, optimistic and built to last — a draw for middle-class buyers in the Baby Boom years.
By the 1960s, Heywood-Wakefield began to be seen as “your parents’ furniture.” The last of the Modern line came out in 1966; the company went bankrupt in 1981. The truly sturdy pieces have weathered the intervening years well, having found a new audience for their blithe and happy sophistication.
Find a collection of vintage Heywood-Wakefield desks, chairs, tables and other furniture on 1stDibs.
- Heywood-Wakefield Full Size Headboard with NightstandsBy Heywood-Wakefield Co.Located in Brooklyn, NYThis stylish champagne finish maple headboard features iconic Heywood-Wakefield style and quality 1950s craftsmanship. The unique design of the piece o...Category
Vintage 1950s American Mid-Century Modern Beds and Bed Frames
MaterialsMaple
$1,120 Sale Price30% Off - Burled Maple and Brass Nightstands after Heywood WakefieldBy Heywood-Wakefield Co.Located in Brooklyn, NYExceptional nightstands in the unmistakable style of Massachusetts' Heywood Wakefield furniture. A beautiful burled maple veneer elevates the nightstands to a higher tier of luxury d...Category
Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Night Stands
MaterialsBrass
- Mid-Century Tables by CavalierBy CavalierLocated in Brooklyn, NYPair of vintage end tables by Cavalier featuring a top shelf and bottom drawer for storage. Warm walnut grain and accenting brass trim handl...Category
Mid-20th Century Mid-Century Modern End Tables
MaterialsWalnut
$1,450 / set - Lane Furniture Mid-Century TablesBy Lane FurnitureLocated in Brooklyn, NYPair of mid-century end tables by Lane Furniture. Oak wood grain with tile motif drawers. Please confirm location NY or NJCategory
Mid-20th Century Mid-Century Modern End Tables
MaterialsOak
$1,100 / set - Contemporary Modern Single Drawer End TableLocated in Brooklyn, NYThis impressive Mid-Century Modern style side table boasts a unique overlapping ellipse shaped base and gorgeous wood grain throughout. A stylish metal base with two half circles con...Category
20th Century Mid-Century Modern End Tables
MaterialsMetal
$595 Sale Price30% Off - Midcentury Round Side Table with StorageLocated in Brooklyn, NYVintage modern walnut table with storage compartment. Use as a sofa side table or nightstand. (Please confirm item location - NY or NJ - with dealer).Category
Vintage 1960s Mid-Century Modern End Tables
- Heywood Wakefield Two-Tier Two-Drawer Cinnamon Bedside TableBy Heywood-Wakefield Co.Located in Germantown, MDHeywood Wakefield mid Century style Two-Tier Two-Drawer Cinnamon nightstand Bedside Table in great condition. All solid wood with dovetail drawer construction. Measures 19.5" wide, 1...Category
Late 20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Night Stands
MaterialsBrass
$971 Sale Price25% Off - Heywood Wakefield Mid Century Bamboo Leg NightstandBy Heywood-Wakefield Co.Located in Countryside, ILHeywood Wakefield mid century bamboo leg nightstand This nightstand measures: 18 wide x 16 deep x 25 inches high All pieces of furni...Category
Vintage 1970s American Mid-Century Modern Night Stands
MaterialsBamboo, Wood
- Mid Century Encore Headboard by Heywood WakefieldBy Heywood-Wakefield Co.Located in Cincinnati, OHA full sized Mid Century headboard in the champagne finish with sliding double doors having tapered solid brass pulls . The doors can be position...Category
Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Beds and Bed Frames
MaterialsWood
- Heywood Wakefield Mid Century Maple Wheat Twin HeadboardBy Heywood-Wakefield Co.Located in Countryside, ILHeywood Wakefield Mid Century Maple Wheat Twin Headboard This headboard measures: 43 wide x 1.5 deep x 34 inches high All pieces ...Category
Vintage 1970s American Mid-Century Modern Beds and Bed Frames
MaterialsMaple
- French Bedside TableLocated in Westwood, NJA neoclassic style French bedside table, the rectangular top with rounded protruding corners and one frieze drawer, on turned legs joined by an u...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Vietnamese Louis XVI Night Stands
MaterialsWood
$2,895 / item - Mid Century Modern King Storage Headboard by Heywood WakefieldBy Heywood-Wakefield Co.Located in Freehold, NJThis mid century modern king sized headboard by Heywood Wakefield features hardwood construction, original champagne finish, with a combination of drop front storage cabinets and ope...Category
Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Beds and Bed Frames
MaterialsBirch, Maple