Don Shoemaker Furniture

William Spratling was an American-born silversmith and artist, best-known for his influence on 20th century Mexican silver design. He established a model for the artistic development and growth of the silver industry in Taxco and deserves the title “Father of Contemporary Mexican Silver”.

Spratling visited Mexico for the first time in 1926. He returned for summers over the next several years, and in 1929, he finally moved to Mexico. He quickly integrated himself into the Mexican art scene and became a friend and a strong proponent of the work of muralist Diego Rivera, for whom he organized an exhibition at the MoMA in New York. Using money received from commissions he organized for Rivera, Spratling purchased a home in Taxco, southwest of Mexico City. In 1931, the US Ambassador to Mexico, Dwight Morrow, suggested to Spratling that the city of Taxco had been the site of silver mines for centuries, but had never been considered a location where jewelry and objects of silver were designed and made. Subsequently, Spratling hired an experienced goldsmith from Iguala who moved to Taxco and created silver jewelry of Spratling’s design. Other craftsmen joined Spratling’s shop and produced tin ware, copper items, textiles and furniture – all designed by Spratling. These earliest designs were based on pre-Columbian motifs as well as simple themes utilizing rope borders, strap designs and other such basic ideas. He often adopted the stylized animal motifs found in Mexican pottery and incorporated native materials such as amethyst and rosewood into his designs. The workshop grew far beyond Spratling’s expectations… By 1940 Spratling employed 300 artisans and Taxco had become a major tourist destination for those seeking silverwork. He began to export silver items to U.S. department stores including Neiman Marcus, Macy’s and Saks. Ironically, the 1940’s boom in Taxco silver production ultimately led to the downfall of Spratling’s company “Spratling y Artesanos”, which by 1946 went out of business. In 1951 Spratling founded a new company—William Spratling, S.A. and continued to work throughout the 1950’s and ’60’s. His designs were also produced by the Conquistador Company in Mexico City for a couple of years. One of the last things he was working on at his ranch in Taxco was the production of furniture for Marilyn Monroe.

Spratling’s silver designs have always been copied but now, perhaps because of the higher prices Spratling’s name commands I have seen an increasing number of William Spratling attributed furniture designs.

Don S. Shoemaker is in my opinion the most remarkable representative of Mexico Modernism furniture design. Don and his wife Barbara settled down in Santa Maria Guido, Morelia in 1951. He began producing wooden items, from jewelry boxes to sculptures and stunning pieces of furniture made of hardwoods grown in the local mountains. The first couple of years were less than easy and in 1955 the Shoemakers were forced to leave the country; their small enterprise was turned over to a cooperative which 2 years later went broke. Their life project continued when the Mexican government invited them to return to Morelia and the furniture workshop SEÑAL, S.A. was founded.

Don left us an unrivaled aesthetic legacy through his furniture designs; he developed his very own identity and style which remained evolving throughout his whole career maintaining the principles of high quality hand-craftsmanship and the intensive use of native Mexican exotic woods. His organic forms were unmatchable by any other furniture designer of his time. During his more than 3 decades of dedicated work Don designed a significant number of iconic furniture masterpieces, all produced in hardwoods, which he favored for their inherent strength, durability and magnificent beauty:

•Organic designs: the most unique Sling “folding” chair (an armchair with folding braces), his Sling “Sloucher” and “Swinger” chairs.

•Rectilinear designs: the “Parsons Line” including suites for every room.

•Coffee table designs: the “Cuerno”, “Sling”, “Elephant” Lounge and “Descanso” coffee tables.

•Dining room set designs: the “Sling” dining room set, cabinets and sideboards.

•Lounge and living room designs: the “Descanso” set and the “Pernos” Lounge set.

•Progressive designs: the famous stack-laminated “Diamond” desk and tables.

Below are some pictures from my personal Don S. Shoemaker collection, a look into the Shoemaker mood when you have a home completely furnished by our master:

Don´s heir, George R. Shoemaker, takes over the company in 1990, after Don passed away. Regrettably George faced some serious problems with characters related with SEÑAL, S.A. which started producing unlicensed copies; so the company had to be dissolved and changed its name to “ARRENDADORA SHOEMAKER”. George continued reproducing Don´s designs under this new label; he improved some of Don´s furniture lines and he developed some own new furniture designs. One of George´s masterpieces are his iconic Bar furniture sets produced in cueramo, he only made a limited edition of 5 of them. However, I will not present at this time any pictures of this magnificent Bar Set to avoid future forgeries.

Unfortunately, George´s health declines extremely fast and production activity goes to almost zero. George passes away and the workshop finally closes in the early 2000’s. Many George R. Shoemaker furniture pieces are copied and sold as “Don S. Shoemaker originals” not recognizing George´s talent and contribution to his Dad´s work. He was a great designer by his own right. He had a restless mind and he also experimented in Art Nouveau, Art Deco and even English XIX Century styles.

Po Shun Leong is an artist, former architect, sculptor and furniture maker. Of Chinese origin, Leong was born in London and lived in Mexico for 15 years. He arrived in Mexico in 1964. For several years, he practiced architecture, designing a series of large furniture stores, residences and commercial exhibitions. He developed many furniture designs and was awarded an Honorable Mention in the Knoll International Furniture Competition, 2 Gold Medal Awards for fiberglass furniture in the IMCE, (Mexican Export Competition) and two 1st prizes in the low cost furniture competition.

In the early 1980’s the Leong family immigrated to Southern California. He set up a studio in his garage to produce prototypes and taught himself woodworking. He became known since the late 1980’s for his highly intricate and inspiring one-of-a-kind wood boxes that have been enthusiastically acquired and are in many museum collections. Po Shun has created at least a 1000 boxes and one-of-a-kind furniture objects. Lately he has been experimenting with bent plywood forms to produce affordable furniture.

I already published some posts on Po Shun Leong’s stay in Mexico, and his friendship with Don S. Shoemaker (see Don S. Shoemaker and Po Shun Leong Parts 1 & 2 and Mexican Design exhibition at the MAM in 1975 – Part #3).

…to be continued in part # 5

Copyright © 2010 – 2012 Karin Goyer. All Rights Reserved.

@donshoemaker.com

Don passed away in May 1990, 21 years ago. He left us an unrivaled aesthetic legacy through his remarkable furniture designs, now becoming modern classics sought after by collectors, galleries, auction houses and individuals worldwide. Apparently the intrinsic value of the woods used in the production (some of them now extinct) is something that they are starting to realize and evidently is sparking the boom of this search not to mention the value of the design, production and hand-craftsmanship compared to prices that have reached pieces from novel designers of stack-laminated wood, sold in $ 7,000 USD for a centerpiece making Don´s production of solid wood so attractive to them.

His furniture designs from the 1960s and 1970s are becoming important examples of 20th century design. He developed his own identity and style which remained evolving throughout his whole career maintaining the principles of high quality hand-craftsmanship and the intensive use of solid native precious woods. Don´s work has been included in many national and international art and design exhibitions held at renowned galleries and museums like the Museo de Arte Moderno (MAM) in Mexico City.

During his more than three decades of dedicated work Don designed a significant number of iconic furniture masterpieces, all produced in exotic hardwoods, which he favored for their inherent strength, durability and magnificent beauty:

• Organic designs: the most unique Sling “folding” chair (an armchair with folding braces), his Sling “Sloucher” and “Swinger” chairs.
• Progressive designs: the famous stack-laminated “Diamond” desk and table
• Rectilinear designs: the “Parsons Line” including suites for every room in your house
• Unmatchable coffee table designs: the “Cuerno”, “Sling”, “Elephant” Lounge and “Descanso” coffee tables.
• Dining room set designs: the “Sling” dining room set, cabinets and sideboards
• Lounge and living room designs: the “Descanso” set and “Pernos” Lounge set

Copyright © 2011 Karin Goyer. All Rights Reserved.

@donshoemaker.com

I was busy in Paris checking out a wonderful desk from my favorite 20^th century French Art Deco designer, Emile-Jacques Ruhlmann when the Mexican Contemporary Art Fair Zona MACO 2011 was taking place in Mexico City from April 6-10, 2011. Of course, I counted on my readers to keep me informed on the highlights of this event and I was amazed by the great amount of comments on the exhibition and pictures that I received on furniture pieces displayed by Mexican and international design galleries in the “ZonaMACO Diseño” pavilion. Interestingly, Don S. Shoemaker´s work was represented at 3 out of the 10 participating galleries in this pavilion…

My attention was captivated by these very rare Don S. Shoemaker Lounge chairs that were exhibited by one of the participating galleries:

The “Pernos” Lounge chair was one of Don´s experimental chair designs from the 60’s when most designers of the time were using welded steel–rod body and frame like Harry Bertoia, Herman Miller and some others became fond of plywood beginning with the Eames passing by Sori Yanagi, Carlo Mollino and last but not least the extensive use by some other designers of fiberglass. As a matter of fact he used to try to find answers in wood to BAUHAUS designs in tubular steel or aluminum. (He also developed an interpretation from the De Stijl, the famous zigzag chair of Garrit Rietveld). Don´s innovative “Pernos” lounge chair had a complicated and very precise assembly process, each chair´s manufacture was personally supervised by him; they were produced during a limited period of time in small quantities. He was not necessarily extremely fond to linear designs, these chairs became exclusive collection pieces to his passionate followers.

Some of Don´s classic Sling furniture pieces were nicely presented by other galleries as well, unfortunately I also recognized a new copy that I had already brought to light last year in my post “AAD – Appearances are deceptive“, related to new Don S. Shoemaker copies. For those of you who visited Zona MACO 2011 you will discover the unlucky copy right away!

Copyright © 2011 Karin Goyer. All Rights Reserved.

@donshoemaker.com

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Po Shun Leong´s story (Part #3) on his acquaintance with Don S. Shoemaker in Mexico since the 60’s and how this friendship impacted his career.

So, how did Po Shun Leong come to Mexico? Here is his humorous narrating:

“It was a serendipitous accident. Actually I was not sure where the country was, as it was not part of the former British Empire. We were mostly taught about the British colonies then. My (high) school in England was run by Quakers. They were involved in many social projects. After college the American Friends Service Committee asked me to volunteer in constructing a community building for the Passamaquoddy Indians in Maine. I replied “Send me anywhere else but Maine.” So they sent me to Mexico to live in a remote village in Tlaxcala on the side of “La Malinche” mountain. There was no water, electricity or road. I lived for a year with the volunteers, helping to build a 110 meter deep well by hand, a library, a bridge, veterinary services. The local priest called us communists in his church sermon and the police did a raid in search of drugs, but none of us smoked or consumed alcohol and the villagers supported our presence and taught us some Nahuatl. I became padrino to several children. This experience was THE introduction to Mexico.

I worked in the Cultural section of the Olympics. I was assisting Susana Esponda, Director from the Festival de “Pintura Infantil”. Children from participating countries came to Mexico to paint large murals that were exhibited along el Paseo de la Reforma in Mexico City. Pedro Ramirez Vazquez took a close interest in this event. We used to practice painting methods and display in the patio of the architect’s home in El Pedregal with guidance from the muralist Jose Chavez Morado.”

And here are some interesting images from the Exhibition of Contemporary Furniture that Po Shun Leong helped to install with Prof. Alfonso Soto Soria in the Museo de Arte Moderno (MAM) back in 1975 whilst living in Mexico.

Side by side Po Shun Leong and Don S. Shoemaker presented some of their furniture pieces at this 1975 “Exposición de Diseño Mexicano” in the Museo de Arte Moderno (MAM), Mexico City. Here you can see Don S. Shoemaker´s wood furniture and some of Po Shun Leong´s contemporary fiber-glass chairs:

Copyright © 2011 Karin Goyer. All Rights Reserved.

@donshoemaker.com

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Po Shun Leong´s interesting story (Part #2) on how he met Don S. Shoemaker in Mexico since the 60’s and how this friendship influenced his career:

In 1981 we left Mexico and settled in California just before the deep recession began. It was as though life had stopped still. I lost contact with Don.

In California I began making little functional band sawn boxes from off-cuts or locally found wood, like Don’s “Organic Design Box”. We spend many a weekend selling our handicrafts in local craft fairs. Gradually with more confidence, the work evolved to beyond being merely functional becoming dramatic in expression as one-of-a-kind objects, inspired from the legendary places of the world such as Uxmal, Machu Picchu or Rome.

Two of Po Shun Leong´s fantastic boxes are shown here:

The Ancient Ruins Box:

The Landscape Box:

Thanks to Don’s earlier encouragement and direction it only took a few short years to become a completely independent studio furniture maker in the Los Angeles area. My work has been shown in the top shows, galleries and is in various permanent museum collections.

The Pasadena  Console:

In 1989 or 1990 I was exhibiting my work in a show organized by the Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC when an elderly man in a wheelchair came into the booth, accompanied by a woman, his daughter. He looked around and saw my name on the wall and remembered me from years back. Not long afterwards he passed away. His daughter purchased one of my art furniture pieces in his memory.

Last year I had the opportunity to participate in the “Vida y Diseño en Mexico” exhibition with some of my furniture from Mexico and was especially honored to be in the same place as Don.

Po Shun Leong

http://www.poshunleong.com/ptang.html

P.S. I remember Don saying that he was good friends with the Cardenas family, especially Lazaro Cardenas. I used to be in friendly contact and work with Doña Amalia, wife of the ex-president and her sister Virginia. They had a home in Tacambaro. Doña Amalia headed a charity program in Oaxaca which she visited every year and I had designed and made hundreds of children’s furniture that she donated to the nurseries. I accompanied her in those trips. When I hurt my leg they gave me a walking stick to get around on. I still keep the stick in my car,  just in case.

Copyright © 2011 Karin Goyer. All Rights Reserved.

@donshoemaker.com

It is an honor to present my guest writer, the world known artist Po Shun Leong and his interesting story how Don S. Shoemaker inspired him to start his career in woods craftsmanship over 30 years ago.

Po Shun Leong, former architect, sculptor and furniture maker, known since the late 1980´s for his highly intricate and inspiring one-of-a-kind wood boxes. The “Landscape” box, a constantly evolving series since 1983 – more drama than box – is architectural in character and built up of many different woods in their natural colors, inspired from ancient or legendary civilizations. The flamboyant sense of shape, surprise and presentation combined with his initial struggles in Mexico has created a following for his art worldwide. He keeps his studio in the garden of his residence in California and he continues to make elaborate wood objects and a line of  sculpturally-inspired furniture pieces.

Po Shun Leong´s remembrances on his wonderful friendship with Don S. Shoemaker since the 60’s while he lived in Mexico are described here:

“Don S. Shoemaker was very influential in the way my career turned out. His work inspired me to break free to become an independent wood artist in California thirty years ago. It was a pleasure to see Don’s creations again on your web site”.

In 1967 when I was working with C.A.P.F.C.E. the Mexican Federal school construction program in Morelia, Michoacan, I rented a small apartment at the Villa Montaña, in Santa Maria de Guido. As an architect, I designed 27 primary schools in places like Apazingan, Caolcoman, Aquila, Patzcuaro etc. and traveled on horseback over the remote mountains of the Pacific coast before there were any roads.

Since I was a near neighbor to Don S. Shoemaker’s SEÑAL company at the top of the hill, I was able to make friends with him and his wife Barbara and also get to know the factory and their designs. Don was the first person who I had ever met whose furniture set off my mind into the possibilities of what to do and where to go in the future. It had to be furniture. He had a large showroom with many samples. I could only afford a couple of objects, a rectangular tray of inlayed wood which I still treasure here in California. The other was a donkey stool for friends who had a little boy.

Don’s work was an inspiration for me especially in the design of functional objects, many of which were free from the constraints of traditional styles and methods of construction. I especially appreciated the way you could tell that the hands of makers were expressed in the shapes and surfaces and the efficient use of machines that enabled the products to be available at reasonable prices. We talked mainly about making furniture, machines and wood; just practical things.

When I began to make furniture independently in Mexico City in the early 1970′s, I sought a more distilled and purer form, some of which were handmade whilst others were mass produced. I made wood dining chairs, sling chairs and even plastic ones all in a contemporary style and received awards from the government and in the Knoll International Furniture Competition.

Here are some of Po Shun Leong´s wood furniture pieces made in Mexico during the 1970´s:

The Tulum leather set from 1974

The  Chamela chair from 1975 The Hacienda Set 1976

And the Duveen dining chair from 1979

to be continued….in Part #2

Copyright © 2011 Karin Goyer. All Rights Reserved.

@donshoemaker.com

The 40′s:

• Don´s adventure in Mexico started in 1947 in San Miguel Allende.

The 50′s:

• In 1951 Don and Barbara settled in Santa Maria de Guido, Morelia.
• The “Sling” chair made its debut.
• By 1955 the Shoemakers fled to the U.S. overnight. SEÑAL became a cooperative and few years later went broke.

The 60′s:

• The Shoemakers are back in Santa Maria de Guido, Michoacan.
• Mass production started for SEÑAL, S.A. industrial designs.
• Don keeps developing new furniture design lines.

The 70′s:

• They had to face devaluation and inflation.
• The Puerto Vallarta store was opened and survived only a few months
• The “Diamond” desk becomes a “must have”.

The 80´s:

• Don searched for new markets and opened showrooms in several cities in the U.S. and exported to different countries in the world.
• Don had to face constant devaluation and inflation.
• Consolidation of the “Sling” and “Descanso” lines, the “Executive” and “Diamond” lines, the “Parsons” and “Perlman” lines, “Deco” line, etc.
• Unfortunately Don passes away at the end of the decade.

The 90´s:

• Don´s heir, George, takes over. Due to problems with obscure characters related with SEÑAL, S.A. the company is dissolved and changes its name to ARRENDADORA SHOEMAKER.
• These characters start producing unlicensed copies.
• In 1995 George has to stand another blow, courtesy of the Mexican economy.
• George develops new designs and improves some of Don´s furniture lines.

The 00′s:

• George´s health is declining extremely fast. Production activity goes to almost zero.
• George passes away and the company has to close.
• The most underwhelming attributions to Don S. Shoemaker started flooding the market.
• The most outrageous examples are the ones shown at the 2009 Miami Design Week.
• In 2010 the website about Don S. Shoemaker was created to provide information to the public and to create awareness of the huge amount of attributions, copies, forgeries and fakes offered in flea markets, auction houses, galleries and the web, some of them featured in specialized magazines.
• At the end of the day, of the year, the decade and the century, the work of the Shoemaker´s will endure and will be enjoyed and remembered by the owners of these remarkable furniture pieces.

P.S.:  The  10´s:

• Next year the book about Don S. Shoemaker, his work, catalog and furniture designs will be published to provide required information to the “Shoemakeristis” and keep fighting piracy, also to prevent further most underwhelming attributions.
• Most important: to honor a person who arrived to an impoverished neighborhood and thanks to his vision, drive and endurance brought well being to the village of Santa Maria de Guido in Morelia, Michoacan.

Copyright © 2010 Karin Goyer. All rights Reserved

@donshoemaker.com

I received a picture from one of my readers on a table displayed at the DESIGN HOUSE, a key attraction for designers, architects and visitors during DESIGN WEEK (October 20-28, 2010) in Mexico City. So I decided to document what I thought it was going to be another “Underwhelming attribution to Don S. Shoemaker” new post, and went to the DESIGN HOUSE to investigate…I checked all the rooms of the DESIGN HOUSE and could not find it. While heading to the exit I saw this little room and went to snoop around, I was overwhelmed by the sight of a spectacular Don S. Shoemaker large coffee table. I inspected in detail the table and someone provided me with a catalog, which indicates that this table is part of the Galeria ADN collection.

This extremely rare large coffee table produced in the 60′s delights our eyes with parquetry table top and articulated legs in solid cueramo tropical wood. I am publishing several pictures: the one taken by one of my readers (good gossip – bad photographer) at DESIGN HOUSE and 2 additional ones provided by Galeria ADN, which I had to contact to be able to offer you a clearer view on the articulated legs design and one on the table´s top. This astonishing large coffee table has the original Don S. Shoemaker studio label on the table´s underside.

If you pay attention to the pictures taken by the gallery, you can see that unfortunately the book “Vida y Diseño en México Siglo XX” is present. I hope they are not using as a reference what is written about Don S. Shoemaker in this book. The gallery took the liberty of sending pictures of some other Don S. Shoemaker pieces they recently acquired and I can say that I am glad that they are all vintage furniture pieces.

Sorry, but you will have to stay tuned for new “underwhelming attributions” posts…

Copyright © 2010 Karin Goyer. All rights Reserved

@donshoemaker.com

During past years Don S. Shoemaker´s work has been presented at several Mexico Modernism designer exhibitions. Worth mentioning: “Vida y Diseño. 125 años del diseño en México” (Life and Design. 125 years of design in Mexico), which took place at the Palacio de Iturbide in Mexico City from December 2009 until the end of February 2010. This exhibition showed a selection of Don S. Shoemaker furniture pieces among works by other 20th century Mexico Modernism designers. Although I was disappointed by the poor research work done about Don S. Shoemaker, the furniture pieces on display were dated to have been produced during  his childhood in the 30´s and 40′s…. Don did not establish himself in Mexico until 1947, later he made acquaintance with precious woods  and he became so fond of them that he moved to Morelia,  Michoacan marking the beginning of his production of furniture pieces in tropical woods until the early 50´s.

Also the Museo de Arte Moderno (MAM) in Mexico City presented some of Don´s furniture pieces in their exhibition “La colección: las rutas de la abstracción. México 1950-1979“ (The collection: routes of abstraction. Mexico 1950-1979). The collection included works of Carlos Mérida, Mathias Goeritz, Manuel Felguérez, Vicente Rojo, Helen Escobedo, Arnaldo Cohen, Michel Van Beuren, Don S. Shoemaker, Pedro Ramírez Vázquez, among others. The exhibition closed in October 2009, but since then a Sling folding chair produced by Don S. Shoemaker in the 60´s is part of their permanent Mexico Modernism designer collection.

This original folding chair is made in solid cocobolo wood with nicely worn black leather upholstery. You may consider a weekend visit to the MAM to study this wonderful Don S. Shoemaker furniture piece.

Copyright © 2010 Karin Goyer. All rights Reserved

@donshoemaker.com

Coming from an affluent family, Don was originally from Nebraska. During the 30´s he studied at the Fine Arts Institute of Chicago thinking to become a painter. After the war, he married Barbara and felt in love with Mexico on his honeymoon, he finally decided to move to that country in the late 40´s. He lived for a while and painted in San Miguel Allende, Guanajuato, but finally he settled down in a little uphill town called Santa Maria de Guido, overseeing the city of Morelia, in the state of Michoacán, Mexico.

Don and Barbara´s love for nature inspired them to install a greenhouse and collected more than 5,000 orchid specimens. Here in Santa Maria de Guido, Don began the manufacture of his furniture in tropical precious woods and other wood products. What started as a little factory in the late 50´s called SEÑAL, S.A., grew to the point where Don employed more than a hundred skilled craftsmen. Soon Shoemaker became an important milestone of the economic and cultural life of his adopted home. SEÑAL, S.A. brought great wealth and economical boost to the village and Don was well known for his good heart and charity projects.

Don S. Shoemaker delivered furniture pieces to his showrooms in Chicago, Los Angeles, Houston and large cities in Mexico. His designs were very much appreciated by wealthy Mexican families which had complete sets decorating their haciendas and luxury homes.

Due to the expensive manufacturing costs on his tropical woods design pieces, his company, SEÑAL, S.A. profited from the installed equipment to produce a commercial line of colonial style furniture in pine and white cedar for hotels and government offices, etc. The legend says, that his factory used to work 24 hours a day.

During his marriage to Barbara Don had three children, but his son, George, was the only one involved in the business. When Don passed away in May of 1990, George took over and started reproducing Don´s designs under the label of “Arrendadora Shoemaker”. Unfortunately, George was called by God in the early 2000´s and the company disappeared.

Copyright © 2010 Karin Goyer. All rights Reserved

@donshoemaker.com