36 



Hardwood Record — Veneer & Panel Section 



July 25, 1922 



exhibited at Grand Rapids revealed the continual improvement 

 that is taking place in American furniture. The cheaper lines did 

 not attempt to follow very closely the characteristics of the designs 

 of the old master designers nor the styles of the various periods, 

 but the designs nevertheless showed in the main good craftsmanship 

 and good taste. There was also evidenced everywhere improve- 

 ment in construction better made drawers and doors, better pro- 

 portioned details. The public now demands good designs and sub- 

 stantial construction, and they are getting it. The designers are 

 showing more originality and more freedom of expression than 

 ever before. They are no longer required to slavishly copy the old 

 masters nor the period styles, but may go far in original designing, 

 provided they are able to create genuine beauty. The president 

 of one of the big Grand Rapids case goods companies remarked 

 that the public is not so much concerned in period styles and other 

 established designs in furniture as in beautiful and good furniture. 

 Thus the designers are no longer in bondage to the past. 



The cheap and medium priced lines in dining room furniture 

 were still dominated by Italian Renaissance and Queen Anne 

 styles, but some of the early English periods and Spanish styles 

 w^ere exhibited. In the high grade lines the periods and designs 

 were more diversified, and this w^as true of bedroom as w^ell as 

 dining room furniture. One saw^ in these lines Chippendale, Shera- 

 ton, Heppelwhite, Duncan Phyfe, Queen Anne, various "Louies," 

 and, in fact, the w^idest diversity of periods and designs. The 

 English designs dominated the field in the high grade bedroom 

 lines. There w^as evidence of a strong movement toward Colonial 

 styles, and it is believed that these are coming into wide popularity 

 w^ilKin the next year or so. 



Walnut Holds Its Popularity 



The popularity of walnut showed no abatement at the Grand 

 Rapids market, though the dominance of this wood was not as 

 overwhelming as in the lines shown in Chicago. The demand for 

 walnut was to mahogany about as 75 per cent is to 25 per cent. 

 The continued popularity of the Italian Renaissance dining room 

 furniture contributes enormously to the extraordinary call for 

 walnut. But bedroom furniture is also largely walnut. In the 

 higher grade lines of the bedroom furniture, however, a great deal 

 of decorated stuff was shown, and in at least one big line this 

 decorated furniture sold second only to walnut. 



One going through the various exhibits frequently saw bedroom 

 or dining room suites made all of walnut or mahogany, but in the 

 medium and lower priced lines, in which the heavy business was 

 done, the walnut or mahogany used was restricted largely to the 

 flat surfaces, tops, doors, head boards, foot boards, etc., while gum 

 or birch was used for the posts and other parts. Aside from the 

 so-called decorated furniture, the most extensively used decorative 

 expedient found on the furniture shown was figured veneer. Beau- 

 tiful matched panels predominated; burl medallions and such orna- 

 mentations were much in evidence. In short, the grain of the 

 w^ood is the main decorative expedient in furniture today. This 

 is a time, as the furniture at Grand Rapids shows, of finishes — 

 finishes that will reveal the beauty of the wood to best advantage. 

 The maker of furniture exerts his utmost ingenuity to give his 

 product finishes that will appeal. All this evidences an increased 

 appreciation by the public of the beauty and value of the wood 

 out of which the furniture is made. The "dusty" finish seems to 

 have had a short lived reign and there was little of it in evidence 

 in Grand Rapids. Also, there was very little polychrome to be 

 round. The makers of furniture are depending largely on the 

 "standard" finishes and various "flat" finishes in brown shades, 

 all of which do and must show the grain of the wood. Some sur- 

 prisingly beautiful results are attained with figured walnut and 

 other veneers. The two-tone effects are much used as are also 

 three-tone effects. Inlay is enjoying an increase in popularity and 

 not a little of this was seen, particularly, of course, in the Sheraton 

 designs. Ebony and other precious woods are used in this inlay 

 work. 



One of the interesting exhibits was a line of breakfast room 

 sets made entirely of gum and finished and offered as such. The 

 same company which offered this gum furniture also show^ed a full 

 line of oak dining room sets in early English and Italian styles. 



Another unusual feature was a dining room set made up in 

 pecan. This was very good looking. 



One of the big Grand Rapids companies is making some maple 

 furniture, and finishing it most attractively in brown shades, get- 

 ting aw^ay from the glaring, corn-colored finish that is popularly 

 associated w^ith maple furniture. 



Attendance Sets New Record 



In point of number of buyers present the market just closed sur- 

 passed all previous records. The buyers totaled over 2,500 and 

 C. B. Hamilton, secretary of the Grand Rapids Furniture Market 

 Association, pointed out that these were all real buyers, and not 

 largely sightseers or clerks from various stores trying to familiarize 

 themselves w^ith the trend of styles. 



Over 550 firms exhibited on the market, of which some fifty 

 were local. As before stated, the general quality of the lines 

 shown was better than ever before. A Grand Rapids manufac- 

 turer, discussing the lines of out-of-town manufacturers, such as 

 those from Rockford and the North Carolina and Indiana furniture 

 centers, was pleased to comment on the increasing high grade of 

 the furniture shown by these people. Some of these manufacturers 

 are producing furniture that compares favorably with some of the 

 best made in Grand Rapids, which show^s how^ well the Grand 

 Rapids standards have taken root all over the country. 



It seems opportune to say here that the American people owe 

 much to Grand Rapids for setting up ideals which have evangelized 

 and uplifted furniture manufacturing throughout the country. 

 Grand Rapids has been so successful w^ith its correctly designed, 

 artistic, substantially constructed furniture that manufacturers all 

 over America have been encouraged to produce better furniture. 

 The Grand Rapids market has always had a wonderful educational 

 value, over and above the purely commercial returns of the mar- 

 ket. In speaking of the market to the w^riter. Mr. Hamilton called 

 attention to this. The principle is established now, he said, that 

 furniture for American homes must serve not only the common 

 and primitive end of utility but must also minister to the aesthetic 

 tastes of the people. It is significant of the vitality of the Grand 

 Rapids ideals that the change from the conditions w^herein the indi- 

 vidual cabinetmaker constructed a piece of furniture in nearly all 

 its parts to the present day methods of quantity production, has 

 raised the quality of design and construction rather than lowered 

 it. A visit to the Grand Rapids furniture market is a most pleas- 

 urable experience to one who can find joy in the sight of brains 

 and genuine artistic feeling wedded to the cabinetmakers' trade. 

 One is impressed w^ith the fact that the average American is being 

 given a chance not only to acquire useful, but also beautiful and 

 refined furnishings for his home. These are noble ends to serve, 

 and certainly Grand Rapids serves them nobly. 



The favorite contention of demagogic advocates of forest con- 

 servation that the lumber people have been wantonly slaughtering 

 the noble denizens of our forests appears most ridiculous when 

 considered with the achievements of the makers of furniture w^ho 

 exhibit on the Grand Rapids market. It is true "that only God 

 can make a tree," but it implies no irreverence to consider that 

 the most splendid tree that God ever made would not be w^antonly 

 slaughtered if it were cut down and made into such furniture as 

 may be found in Grand Rapids. When the soul and skill of a 

 craftsman, who is not only a cabinetmaker, but an artist devoted 

 to his art, has wrought with that tree, and it has been set in the 

 midst of a home to give that home comfort and beauty, it has 

 achieved a destiny much more worthy than that which it might 

 have found by standing forever untouched in the forest. 



