The furniture designer - an unsung hero.

A competent designer helps manufacturers define a look and create an identity.

Designers are surely among the most under-appreciated figures in the furniture industry. The majority of manufacturers see us as either an unnecessary expense or necessary evil. The public doesn't know that we exist except as embodied by the recent phenomenon of "celebrity" designers who are more apt to use scissors and a photocopier than a T-square and a pencil in communicating ideas (if they don't rubber stamp the work of an anonymous staff designer).

Although not all furniture manufacturers use designers, it still remains that a piece of furniture must be conceived before it can be produced, even if that conception is a blatant copy or "knock-off."

Prior to the mid-19th century, the designer and manufacturer of furniture were one and the same person. The popularity of certain designer-craftsmen's work was spread through the publication of pattern books such as Thomas Chippendale's The Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker's Directory and George Hepplewhite's CabinetMaker and Upholsterer's Guide, which were widely read and copied on both sides of the Atlantic in the 18th century.

Prior to 1840, furniture making in the United States was very much a handicraft trade, starting with the felling of trees to finishing the final product. Not surprisingly, the two major furniture centers were port cities, Boston and New York. Styles were largely reproductions of imports from Amsterdam and London.

The advent of the Industrial Revolution and mass-produced furniture created a division of labor between those who designed furniture and those who executed those designs. Machine-made furniture was obviously more affordable to the masses than bench-made furniture, and it became more transitory in style, reflecting a variety of influences.

Furniture centers began to emerge in other parts of the country: Philadelphia, Columbus, Cincinnati, Chicago, Jamestown and Grand Rapids. To keep up with the increasing demand for furniture by an expanding population, manufacturers paid draftsmen to develop new designs. Often, these draftsmen began as carvers or model makers, and some eventually moved through the ranks into executive positions.

Notable Grand Rapids' Designers

In the late 1800s, Grand Rapids became the dominant furniture center, where the role of the furniture designer as we know it today was established. A prominent name in this emerging field was David Walcott Kendall. Kendall had studied cabinetmaking under his father and was later employed by a furniture company as a designer after working his way up from the shop floor. Kendall arrived in Grand Rapids in 1879 as an assistant designer at the Phoenix Furniture Co., the first professional draftsman in Grand Rapids.

Kendall spent months studying the classic styles in Europe, which he revived for Phoenix, setting the precedent for "period" furniture. In 1898, Kendall designed and produced his version of the English-designed Morris chair. Kendall's version made its way to the White House and became known as the (President William) McKinley chair.

Kendall's most lasting contribution to the design field, the David Walcott Kendall School of Art, was provided for by his widow. Incorporated in 1928, the school is now known as Kendall College of Art and Design and has produced hundreds of furniture designers.

Kendall was but one of many notable Grand Rapids designers, including Herb Tenhave, Dale Ford, Robert Colleen and Henry Warren. Warren's son, David, and grandson, Michael, also joined the profession.

An Industry Record: Still Selling After 50 Years

The husband and wife team of Marie and Russ Kirkpatrick produced some of the most well-known designs in the history of the industry: Pilgrim Pine for Link-Taylor, Tudor Manor for Globe Parlor and Lillian Russell for Davis Cabinet. Lillian Russell holds the record for the longest continuously produced set in American manufacturing history, more than 50 years.

Carl H. Eggebrecht, whose father, William, started out as a carver for Berkley & Gay, was another Grand Rapids designer who worked for Link-Taylor and Young-Hinkle, and produced some of the best-selling designs of the 1960s and '70s. These include Ship Ahoy, Rawhide, Windjammer and Heirloom Mahogany; the latter two still are being manufactured.

After World War II, the industry moved south, and with it, the designers. Today, designs marketed by U.S. companies may be produced in countries we had scarcely heard of 10 years ago. Unlike designers of an earlier era, to whom a trek to Bassett, VA, was an ordeal, designers today often travel through several time zones to visit sources of components or Third World clients whose products will wind up on American retail floors.

Designers Who Create a Company's Identity

More companies are opting for computer-aided design rather than hand-drawn sketches and detail drawings, which can only result in more homogeneous designs. Young designers store templates into their hard drives that allow them to produce hundreds of Queen Anne legs, for instance, all identical, with no discernible grace, and with a lack of appreciation for how this design evolved over the centuries. Let us hope that over the long run, technology doesn't triumph over aesthetics, or efficiency over imagination.

The movement toward brand-name licensing with fashion designers is another desperate action of an industry too intent upon talking to one another, rather than to the consumer. The track record of these licensing agreements is rather spotty, particularly when compared to some of the designs cited above. Furniture manufacturers have to work with incredibly tight margins, and higher commissions paid to a "name" designer surely can't help the bottom line.

Still, the industry remains one of the last bastions of capitalism where even small niche companies that produce well-designed and well-made furniture can make an impact in the marketplace. Moreover, it is the designer that helps to define a company's particular look, and by so doing, helps to create an identity for the company.

While many companies are reluctant to publicize the designer's contribution to their success, some designers are almost synonymous (at least within the industry) with the companies they have served: the late Ken Volz and Henredon, Leonard Eisen and Pulaski, Milo Baughman and Thayer Coggin, Raymond Sobota and Century, Norman Hekler and American Drew, and O.B. Solie and Ello.

Whether next year's hot collection originates on a cocktail napkin during a conversation or at a computer terminal, it is the furniture designer who is the undisputed linchpin in the manufacturing chain.

Editor's note: The author heads Steve Hodges Associates Inc., Lexington, NC, a furniture design and marketing services firm. He has designed numerous award-winning case goods collections for U.S. and Canadian manufacturers. He is a past president of the American Society of Furniture Designers.