Raymond Loewy Sofa

For those in the know, French-born American industrial designer Raymond Loewy is the “father of streamlining.” He is widely recognized as a pioneer of industrial design consulting — a creative powerhouse who took aim at cluttered designs and simplified them. Loewy left his mark on everything from toothbrushes to trashcans to spacecraft interiors. He designed cars, worked in illustration, and crafted comely dressers and other furniture.

Loewy was born in Paris, France. At age 15, he designed a model airplane that was powered by rubber bands. It won the James Gordon Bennett Cup of 1908. Loewy patented the model kit for this plane by the following year and saw brisk sales. With his savings, Loewy was able to study at the University of Paris and then at Ecole de Lanneau, where he earned an engineering degree in 1918.

Loewy moved to New York City in 1919 and found work as a window designer for the department stores Macy's, Wanamaker's and Saks and as a fashion illustrator for Vogue and Harper's Bazaar. Loewy’s big break in industrial design came in 1929 when he altered the Gestetner duplicating machine — removing jutting parts and encasing the moving works in an understated cover. It caused a sensation within the industry — and companies began to call on him.

Loewy designed packaging for Coca-Cola and revised the look of Lucky cigarettes. The “Loewy Look,” which referred to the designer’s efforts to strip a product of any unnecessary detail and streamline its appearance, began to characterize hundreds of products.

Loewy found clients in a dizzying number of companies. He did everything from retooling logos to redesigning products. His 1934 Sears Coldspot refrigerator was a sleek innovation that broke sales records. His Pennsylvania Railroad locomotive resembled a speeding bullet and was the darling of the 1939 World’s Fair. Loewy even reworked shapes for snacks at Nabisco. By the time World War II gathered steam, Raymond Loewy Associates — the industrial design firm he founded — had been operating in a number of American cities. When Time magazine featured him on the cover in October 1949 — Loewy was not shy about publicity — his profile soared.

Loewy worked with Studebaker for decades. The success of their 1953 Starliner coupe was due to his revolutionary design, while their 1963 futuristic, fiberglass-bodied Avanti, which came with advanced safety features and materialized at a time when the company was experiencing financial hardship, was his crowning achievement for the maker.

Returning to his roots in aviation, Loewy worked for NASA from 1967 to 1973 on the interior design of the Skylab space station. He was also involved in the interior designs of the Concorde supersonic jet and Air Force One. Loewy delighted in creating furniture and collaborated with manufacturers such as Mengel Furniture, Rosenthal and Doubinsky Frères. In the 1970s, Loewy and his wife shuttered their businesses and retired in France.

On 1stDibs, find vintage Raymond Loewy cabinets, serveware, seating and more.

Best known for industrial and Art Deco style metal furniture, Simmons Company Furniture was among the leading manufacturers and sellers of steel furniture from the early to mid-20th century.

In 1923, the Chicago-based furniture firm captured international attention when it introduced the world’s first bedroom suite made of steel. This innovative approach to design made waves throughout the furniture manufacturing industry, which, at the time, produced primarily wooden furniture. 

Towards the late 1920s, Simmons Company Furniture began collaborating with American modernist industrial designer Norman Bel Geddes. Bel Geddes was renowned for his sleek, streamlined, futuristic style, seen in Electrolux appliances, radios for Philco and RCA and the aerodynamic Chrysler Airflow. Bel Geddes was also the designer behind the famed General Motors “Futurama” exhibition at the 1939 New York World’s Fair.

For Simmons, Bel Geddes designed a steel bedroom furniture ensemble in 1929, including an enameled steel vanity, bed frame and dresser, each with chrome-finished accents. In 1933, Simmons exhibited the suite at the Century of Progress World’s Fair in Chicago, garnering critical acclaim. Over the next few years, Bel Geddes designed several other pieces for Simmons, such as an Art Deco-style one-drawer side table, leather-upholstered metal armchairs, vanity benches and chests of drawers.

In addition to these modernist designs, Simmons created American Classical furniture and steel reproductions of Windsor, Chippendale and Sheraton pieces aimed at the upper-middle-class market. To soften the industrial look, many pieces, such as rocking chairs, armchairs, desks and dressers, were enameled in color finishes or imitation wood.

Simmons Company Furniture pieces have had a resurgence in popularity, particularly among interior designers and collectors of early 20th-century furniture. The company’s furnishings are in museum collections across the United States, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Brooklyn Museum in New York.

On 1stDibs, discover a range of Simmons Company Furniture seating, case pieces and storage cabinets, tables and more.