Kipp Stewart Set of Six Centennial Dining Chairs for Drexel, 1950s, Signed

While American furniture designers Kipp Stewart & Stewart MacDougall created a range of mid-century modernist works for Glenn of California and other manufacturers, the duo is best known for Declaration, a collection they designed for Drexel Furniture.

It’s true that design lovers have long revered Drexel’s bedroom furniture of the 1960s, and collectors of mid-century modern pieces are drawn to vintage Drexel dressers, Drexel Heritage sofas and the series that Stewart (1928–2022) and MacDougall (1927–2016) designed for the North Carolina manufacturer. But Drexel’s story actually begins decades before its celebrated Declaration line and other postwar furnishings took shape.

Drexel was founded in 1903 and earned a reputation for works that were inspired by historic European furniture, like the popular French Provincial–style Touraine bedroom and dining group that borrowed its curves from Louis XV-era furniture. Others replicated the ornate details of 18th-century chinoiserie or the embellishments of Queen Anne furniture. 

By the time he graduated from Chouinard Art Institute in his adopted home state of California, the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania-born Kipp Stewart was steeped in the world of modern seating design, experimenting with new chair models that bridged form and function. Charles and Ray Eames were important influences on his early work. 

The Eameses — whose lounge chair is among the most iconic works manufactured by legendary Michigan company Herman Miller — were also inspirational for Stewart MacDougall, a Pasadena, California-born designer who, like Kipp, attended Chouinard. 

When Drexel embraced the clean lines of mid-century modernism with the Declaration collection, Kipp and Stewart were producing case pieces and more for Glenn of California, an Arcadia-based brand that also manufactured furniture designed by the likes of Greta Magnusson Grossman, Milo Baughman and others.

Drexel’s Declaration line was constructed entirely of natural walnut and featured the choice of white porcelain or brass drawer pulls and cabinet door handles. Although its stylish credenzas, dressers and other pieces reflect the kind of slim-lined, low-slung silhouettes for which mid-century design has become known, there are also elements that nod to earlier American and European furniture design, such as the dining chairs whose flattened spindle backs recall Shaker and Windsor chair design, distinguishing them from the modern designs becoming prolific in Scandinavia at the time.

While Kipp Stewart found success as a painter and with his Ventana Big Sur project, which he designed in 1972 — and had also created chairs, chests and more for Directional — the Drexel Declaration line is his widely recognized furniture collection and remains highly sought after by collectors today. Stewart MacDougall’s interests also spanned other areas of design — he worked on vintage cars, created golf clubs and built sailboats — but furniture obsessives know him best for the distinctive Declaration series.

The Declaration pieces were so indicative of a particularly American style, in fact, that several items from the collection were selected by the U.S. government to represent the country at the Brussels World’s Fair in 1958.

Find vintage Kipp Stewart & Stewart MacDougall furniture on 1stDibs.

The ultimate multi-hyphenate, Kipp Stewart counted painting, photography, architecture and furniture design among his talents. Known to furniture obsessives for the Declaration series he codesigned for North Carolina’s Drexel Furniture, Stewart was actually born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 1928 and is most commonly associated with mid-century design movements of his adopted home state of California. There, in 1972, Stewart designed the Ventana Big Sur, a luxury resort near Montecito for which he oversaw architecture, planning, furniture and interior design across 160 acres of land.

By the time Stewart spearheaded the Ventana, he was already well versed in furniture design. After briefly serving in the U.S. Navy as a teenager, Stewart enrolled at the Chouinard Art Institute (present-day CalArts) in Los Angeles.

By the time he graduated, Stewart was steeped in the world of modern seating design, experimenting with new chair models that bridged form and function. Charles and Ray Eames were important influences on his early work, which included a chrome-framed lounge chair whose reclined shape bears a striking resemblance to the Eameses’ iconic lounge.

In the late 1950s, Stewart partnered with another West Coast furniture designer, Stewart MacDougall, on a line of modern furniture for Drexel. (The pair were also producing case pieces and more for Glenn of California.)

Drexel soon unveiled Stewart and McDougall’s Declaration line, which was constructed entirely of natural walnut and featured the choice of white porcelain or brass drawer pulls and cabinet door handles. Although its stylish credenzas and other pieces reflect the kind of slim-lined, low-slung silhouettes for which mid-century design has become known, there are also elements that nod to earlier American and European furniture design, such as the dining chairs whose flattened spindle backs recall Shaker and Windsor chair design, distinguishing them from the modern designs becoming prolific in Scandinavia at the time.

The Declaration pieces were so indicative of a particularly American style, in fact, that several items from the collection were selected by the U.S. government to represent the country at the Brussels World’s Fair in 1958.

While Stewart found success as a painter and with his Ventana hotel project — and had also designed chairs, chests and more for Directional — the Drexel Declaration line is his best-known furniture collection and remains highly sought after by collectors today.

Find a wide range of vintage Kipp Stewart furniture on 1stDibs, including dining room chairs, end tables and more.