Don Shoemaker Furniture

Special credit should be awarded to Don´s beloved son George, who, after Don passed away in 1990, took over and directed with great dedication the company under the label “ARRENDADORA SHOEMAKER“, producing many of his own designs and furniture pieces under this brand name until his early death in 2004.

Many of George´s designs were unique and of great creativity. I would like to stress on the fact that George deserves his own chapter in this website. Unfairly, most George R. Shoemaker designs are being copied and sold as “Don S. Shoemaker originals”.

I will share with you some of George´s furniture designs that I have documented, which date back to his time in the 90´s:

This round table was part of an impressive dining room set designed by George R. Shoemaker in rosewood (cueramo). One of George´s improvements to point at  is the finish of his round table edge: he made these of solid wood to prevent the parquetry from chipping.  It is very common to get a dent on the edge of the round table parquetry design of his Dad. The parquetry on George´s table top surface was very different compared to the shiny finish on the table top from his father.

This fabulous dining room set was combined with 8 chairs made in solid cueramo with black leather upholstery, this chair style was one of the favorite Don S. Shoemaker designs for the more conservative dining  room sets and was reproduced by George in a way we can only call it perfect.

The enlarged cabinet shown below was part of that same dining room set, and is also a further development of George on his Dad´s original design, a very dramatic piece of furniture. The complete set looks absolutely incredible!

Copyright © 2010 Karin Goyer. All rights Reserved

@donshoemaker.com

Brand new Don S. Shoemaker copies have been around for some time. Unfortunately they are being sold as “genuine” Don S. Shoemaker furniture pieces. Here we have a selection of them and the differences between the Don S. Shoemaker original pieces vs. the newly produced copies that have come my way so far. Of course, these copies are fine pieces as long as the same tropical woods are being used, but some copies are made in more commercial woods and the finish does not compare to a Don S. Shoemaker original. In all fairness, they should all be sold according to what they are: copies, not pretending to be Don S. Shoemaker originals.

Sadly, there are many very sloppy copies, however most reproductions made under the “Arrendadora Shoemaker” label are perfect.

Compare the original piece with the copy so you can detect the differences:

The ottoman that goes with the Sling chair is well known by most Don S. Shoemaker fans. The original Don S. Shoemaker Sling  footstool is traditionally produced in tropical woods; cueramo and cocobolo were Don´s favorites. Below is an original Sling footstool in cocobolo versus two recent copies: one of them  in an odd “combo woods” design (!) and the other brand new footstool was made in mahogany. No mahogany Sling chairs were ever produced during the good old SEÑAL, S.A. production days.

Copyright © 2010 Karin Goyer. All rights Reserved

@donshoemaker.com