Midcentury Danish Rosewood ‘Cado’ Modular Wall System Poul Cadovius Home Office

View Similar Items

Poul Cadovius for Cado "Royal System" Modular Wall Shelve, circa 1948

Danish Modern Modular Teak Wall Unit by Poul Cadovius for Cado 1950s

Danish Modern Modular Teak Wall Unit by Poul Cadovius for Cado, 1960s

Danish Modern Poul Cadovius Cado Teak Modular Wall Unit Shelves

Poul Cadovius Cado Royal System Wall Unit Shelving Bookcase 1960s 1970s in Teak

Shelving System Wall Unit by Poul Cadovius

Large Danish modular shelf in Rosewood by Poul Cadovius 1960.

Danish Poul Cadovius Wall Unit, Mid-Century Modern Shelf Royal System, Denmark

Danish Modern Rosewood Shelves by Poul Cadovius for Cado, 1960s. Set of 3.

Small Poul Cadovius Wall Unit, Mid-Century Shelf Royal System, Denmark

Poul Cadovius Teak Royal Wall System Denmark

Vintage Poul Cadovius Wall Unit, Mid-Century Modern Shelf Royal System, Denmark

Want more images or videos?

Request additional images or videos from the seller

1 of 21

Midcentury Danish Rosewood ‘Cado’ Modular Wall System Poul Cadovius Home Office

About the Item

This particular system is commonly referred to as ‘Cado’ to differentiate it from the ‘Royal System', also designed by Poul Cadovius. The spectacular modular rosewood wall system is in really lovely condition with stunning figuring, showing only minimal signs of its previous life. Each individual piece simply hangs on the backboard using angled dowels and can be positioned at your discretion. This particular system is unusual due to the addition of scribe panels either side – finishing the back boards off beautifully – three lighting bars and a pair of Cado speakers. The speakers are open-fronted Cado cabinets that were retro fitted (by the supplying dealer - probably Heals), with Wharfedale 10-inch woofers and single tweeter, and the sound quality is excellent. Each lighting bar simply hangs from brackets from the shelf above. There are four cupboards; two with doors, one with four drawers, and another with sliding doors. The bureau opens to reveal four drawers and a filing slot – ideal for a home office desk. The glass-fronted cabinet has sliding doors and two original glass shelves. As you would expect with a vintage piece, there is some UV fading on some of the back panels, and a few small marks, but nothing that detracts overall. Complete with CITES Certificate. The modular units consist of 20 pieces (plus lights and brackets): 5 x wall panels each measuring 80cm wide x 2.6 metres high, and 2 x scribe panels measuring 23.5cm wide x 2.6 metres high - 447cm total width (all 2cm deep). 4 x cupboards 80cm wide x 52cm high x 46cm deep 1 x Bureau unit 80cm wide x 43cm high x 38cm deep 1 x Glass fronted cabinet 80cm wide x 56cm high x 22 deep 2 x hi-fi speakers 80cm wide x 38cm high x 30 deep 5 x Shelves 80cm wide x 2cm high x 22cm deep 3 x Lighting bars 80cm wide x 5cm high x 6cm deep 10 x shelving brackets.

Creator:
Poul Cadovius (Designer),Cado (Manufacturer)
Dimensions:
Height: 102.37 in (260 cm)Width: 175.99 in (447 cm)Depth: 18.9 in (48 cm)
Sold As:
Set of 20
Style:
Mid-Century Modern (Of the Period)
Materials and Techniques:
Fabric,Glass,Metal,Rosewood
Place of Origin:
Denmark
Period:
1960-1969
Date of Manufacture:
circa 1960
Condition:
Wear consistent with age and use.
Seller Location:
Sherborne, GB
Reference Number:
1stDibs: LU4257227499272

Shop All Poul Cadovius

Poul Cadovius

While Poul Cadovius is most famous for his modular floating shelving system, his career in design didn’t actually start with wall units.

Born just outside of Copenhagen in 1911, Cadovius began manufacturing window treatments in the 1940s with his partner, Hother Brønner. He soon turned his focus from venetian blinds to furniture, finding success designing svelte pieces in teak, a richly colored hardwood favored by the Danish mid-century modernists.

In 1945, Cadovius founded the furniture manufacturer Royal System with his designs, including the 1948 Royal System shelving unit, a space-saving solution that underscored Cadovius’s penchant for problem-solving in a multifunctional way. Rather than balance shelves on wooden or metal legs, it held them to the wall with brackets. He followed it with the System Ultra in 1957, the System Cado in 1960 and the System Abstracta, which was installed throughout the exhibition halls of the 1962 Cologne Furniture Fair. All expanded on his idea of wall-mounted shelving that saved space while offering functionality, allowing for limitless combinations of storage, shelves, work surfaces and other units. The Royal System proved to be especially popular and is still produced by Danish furniture brand dk3 today, with early models continuing to be in demand.

Along with the shelving systems, Cadovius designed everything from lounge chairs to mushroom-shaped bus shelters, and he held over 400 patents. In addition to being a designer, he was also an entrepreneur with an eye for opportunity, such as purchasing Danish manufacturer France & Søn in the mid-1960s and folded it into CADO, a company he founded years earlier. He used this as an occasion to experiment with his designs, conceiving such unusual pieces as an aluminum-based dining table topped with rosewood and hand-painted by artist Susan Fjedldoe Mygge.

Cadovius’s innovations in shelving continued throughout his career, with examples like the sculptural Butterfly shelf and vertical pieces mixing shelving and storage. In 2018, to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the Royal System, dk3 reissued the celebrated shelving system as well as a more compact version reimagined for 21st-century homes.

Find a collection of vintage Poul Cadovius storage cabinets, seating and other furniture on 1stDibs.