Rare Executive Desk in Herring Bone, Marble, and Walnut by Harvey Probber

View Similar Items

Harvey Probber Mid Century Walnut Curved Executive Desk

Harvey Probber Executive Pedestal Desk with Polished Walnut Top

Rare Harvey Probber Brass and Mahogany Desk

Harvey Probber Executive Desk: Mid-Century Elegance Meets Modern Functionality

Harvey Probber Desk in Mahogany 1950s 'Signed'

Vintage Midcentury Table Desk by Harvey Probber

Harvey Probber American Mid-Century 'Boat Top' Polished Walnut Writing Desk

Vintage Executive Brass and Walnut Desk

1960s Walnut and Chrome Executive Desk

Harvey Probber Executive Credenza

Vintage Walnut Executive Desk by Florence Knoll

Rare Mid-Century Modern Walnut Push-Button Executive Desk by SLS Environetics

Want more images or videos?

Request additional images or videos from the seller

1 of 11

Rare Executive Desk in Herring Bone, Marble, and Walnut by Harvey Probber

About the Item

Mid Century Modern Executive Desk designed by Harvey Probber..Sleek simple elegant design,2" thick marble top,Herring bone design,Walnut case,,Wrapped Rosewood over Steel legs tenened through case,,profile makes stunning architectrual statement,obscure drawer pulls adds to the opulent design. Harvey Probber was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1922. While attending Samuel J. Tilden High School, he took a part-time job in a used-furniture store, and was inspired to try his hand at drawing ideas for furniture. Probber sold his first sofa design when he was just 16, for $10.[3] After high school graduation, he accepted a job as designer for Trade Upholstery, a small manufacturing facility on West 17th Street.[4] 1940 was the beginning of American modernism, a time characterized by young designers with talent, initiative, and a willingness to take risks with new ideas. Probber was one of an early band of pioneers in a field that included D.J. DePree of Herman Miller, Hans Knoll, Georg Tanier and Jack Lenor Larsen.[5] Design career and Harvey Probber, Inc. Probber established Harvey Probber, Inc., in 1945 and in the middle years of the twentieth century, Harvey Probber became one of America’s leading designers.Though he considered himself a modern designer, his approach to modernity favored exotic woods, highly polished lacquer, hand-rubbed finishes and opulent upholstery fabrics—materials largely abandoned by more radical, Bauhaus-influenced designers. Probber’s designs, like those of Edward Wormley, Tommi Parzinger, were sought after by customers who wanted modern furniture with elegance. In 1947, when showroom space wasn’t available in Chicago’s Merchandise Mart, he took his line to Grand Rapids, then the center of the furniture manufacturing industry. In 1948, seeing the potential in the interior design market he opened a showroom at 136 Fifth Avenue, catering exclusively to designers. In little over a decade, Harvey Probber, Inc. became one of the country’s leading contemporary furniture firms. His elastic sling chair and Nuclear upholstered groups were chosen for MoMA’s Good Design exhibition in 1951, and he won several prestigious Roscoe industry awards.

Creator:
Harvey Probber (Designer)
Dimensions:
Height: 29 in (73.66 cm)Width: 72 in (182.88 cm)Depth: 36 in (91.44 cm)
Style:
Mid-Century Modern (Of the Period)
Materials and Techniques:
Marble,Wood,Other,Polished
Place of Origin:
United States
Period:
Mid-20th Century
Date of Manufacture:
1950s
Condition:
Wear consistent with age and use. minor blemishes to marble top..age appropriate ware.
Seller Location:
Buffalo, NY
Reference Number:
1stDibs: LU106242035242

Shop All Harvey Probber

Harvey Probber

A popular designer who had his heyday from the late 1940s into the 1970s, Harvey Probber is one of the post-war American creative spirits whose work has been recently rediscovered by collectors. His designs are by-and-large simple and elegant, but his signal achievement was to pioneer one of the key innovations of mid-20th century furniture: sectional, or modular, seating.

Even as a teenager, the Brooklyn-born Probber was making sketches of furniture designs — and selling them to Manhattan furniture companies. He began working as a designer for an upholsterer once he finished high school and, apart from a few evening classes he took as an adult at the Pratt Institute, he was self-taught about design and furniture making.

After wartime service — and a stint as a lounge singer — Probber founded his own company in the late 1940s. A lifelong familiarity with the needs of New York–apartment dwellers doubtless sparked his most noteworthy creation: a line of seating pieces in basic geometric shapes — wedges, squares, half-circles — that could be arranged and combined as needed. Modular furniture remained the core idea of Probber’s business throughout his career.

As a self-trained designer, Probber was never wed to any particular aesthetic. He preferred simple lines for their inherent practicality, but often used hardware to enliven the look of his pieces, or added elements — such as a ceramic insert in the center of a round dining table — that was visually interesting and could serve as a trivet. He gravitated toward bright fabrics with attractive, touchable textures that might be satin-like or nubbly. Above all, Probber insisted that the products that came out of his Fall River, Massachusetts, factory be built to last.

“The quality of aging gracefully,” Probber once told an interviewer, is “design's fourth dimension.” This quality he realized: Probber furniture is just as useful and alluring now as it was when made — and maybe even more stylish.

Find a collection of vintage Harvey Probber side tables, sectional sofas, chairs and other furniture on 1stDibs.