Vintage Midcentury Ward Bennett for Brickel Associates Sofas

About the Item

These sofas are absolutely stunning! Classic sofas, model no. 2092, designed by Ward Bennett for Brickel Associates, American, 1970s. A timeless design with deco and modern sensibility. Defined by its curvaceous profile each sofa offers a generous yet elegant way to relax. Featuring a curved backrest with back pleat that flows into rounded arms for a strong yet approachable profile. A tidy bench seat balance the soft silhouette and keep things pulled together to create an organic silhouette that’s alluring from every angle. The sofas are in excellent restored condition; professionally upholstered in a green velvet with dark stained legs. No matter the style home you have, these sofas are sure to fit seamlessly into your space. Ward Bennett a designer, artist and sculptor —was one of America’s best-known designers. He was famous for his luxurious brand of modernism and for pared-down, sumptuous interiors that skillfully integrated antiques and contemporary pieces. (Clients included Gianni and Marella Agnelli and Jann and Jane Wenner). In 1963, he was ensconced as the sole designer for the furniture manufacturer Brickel Associates, where for more than 20 years designing furniture and later textiles. His furniture designs made contemporary refinements to historical prototypes. He incorporated industrial forms and materials into his work a decade before the High Tech trend of the 1970s. He is considered a prodigious designer of objects: china, glassware and silver for Tiffany and Company; flatware for Supreme; porcelain for Sasaki; and, leather goods for Hermes. Bennett designs are well represented in the Museum of Modern Art`s permanent collection and in the Cooper-Hewitt Museum.

Creator:

Ward Bennett (Designer),Brickel Associates (Manufacturer)

Dimensions:

Height: 30 in (76.2 cm)Width: 92 in (233.68 cm)Depth: 30 in (76.2 cm)Seat Height: 16.5 in (41.91 cm)

Style:

Mid-Century Modern (Of the Period)

Materials and Techniques:

Upholstery,Wood

Place of Origin:

United States

Period:

1970-1979

Date of Manufacture:

circa 1970s

Condition:

Reupholstered. Wear consistent with age and use. The sofas are in excellent restored condition; have been reupholstered back to their original integrity.

Seller Location:

Dallas, TX

Reference Number:

1stDibs: LU4528233951062

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Shop All Ward Bennett

Ward Bennett

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.