Pair of Heywood-Wakefield Stools
View Similar Items
Pair of Heywood-Wakefield Stools
About the Item
- Creator:Heywood-Wakefield Co. (Manufacturer)
- Dimensions:Height: 16.5 in (41.91 cm)Diameter: 20 in (50.8 cm)
- Sold As:Set of 2
- Materials and Techniques:
- Place of Origin:
- Period:
- Date of Manufacture:1950s
- Condition:
- Seller Location:Newburgh, NY
- Reference Number:1stDibs: 14120579361855
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.
- Mid-Century Modern Heywood Wakefield OttomanBy Heywood-Wakefield Co.Located in Clarksboro, NJThis listing is for a Mid-Century Modern Heywood Wakefield Ottoman. Featuring a curved rectangular top, champagne wood legs, and new upholste...Category
Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Stools
MaterialsWood, Upholstery
- Heywood Wakefield Swivel Foot Stool, USA 1960sBy Heywood-Wakefield Co.Located in Miami, FLwhimsical swivel foot stool by Heywood Wakefield--1960s USACategory
Vintage 1960s American Mid-Century Modern Footstools
MaterialsMaple
- Heywood Wakefield Wicker Round Stool Ottoman circa 1940sBy Heywood-Wakefield Co.Located in Swedesboro, NJThis is a unique ottoman by Heywood Wakefeld. The stool measures 16 x 16 x 14 inches tall. It is in good vintage condition.Category
Vintage 1940s American Late Victorian Footstools
MaterialsWicker
- Wicker Fiddlehead Style Foot Stool or Ottoman in the Manner of Heywood WakefieldBy Heywood-Wakefield Co.Located in Jacksonville, FLVintage wicker footstool features classic fiddlehead design. Good condition with imperfections consistent with age, see photos for condition d...Category
Mid-20th Century Victorian Footstools
MaterialsWicker
- Set of 5 Rohde for Heywood Wakefield Dining ChairsBy Gilbert Rohde, Heywood-Wakefield Co.Located in New York, NYRare early set of Art Deco dining chairs, designed by Gilbert Rohde for Heywood Wakefield. This set includes four side, or armless chairs...Category
Mid-20th Century American Art Deco Dining Room Chairs
MaterialsUpholstery, Wood
Sold$2,200 / set - 1900s Heywood Brothers and Wakefield Co Ebonized and Decorated Youth High ChairLocated in Germantown, MDAn early 1900s Heywood Brothers and Wakefield Company of Baltimore Ebonized oak and Decorated Youth High Chair in very good sturdy condition and great patina. Measures 17.5" in width...Category
Early 20th Century Stools
MaterialsOak, Paint
$746 Sale Price25% Off