I was fascinated by the variety of tropical woods games sets and playing devices that Don developed in his immense creativity. I bought a wonderful Rummy in solid, very heavy cocobolo wood. The interior of the case includes brown leather on the upper side, every single player pieces are hand …
These attributed pieces were found in a gallery: The X-Chair, attributed to Don Shoemaker. This model never existed during the SEÑAL, S.A. production days. As long as I know who designed these chairs… He used as a model the original Don S. Shoemaker design of a small folding stool in …
Trying to find answers to my question about the lack of better research, I remembered that in 2007 Banamex published a book in Mexico titled “Vida y Diseño en México Siglo XX” (Life Design in Mexico XX Century), some pages were dedicated to Don S. Shoemaker´s furniture designs. Pitiful …
I have seen a wide range of fakes or attributed furniture pieces on sale on the web, magazines, flea markets and even on renowned galleries. I have questioned myself many times: what motivates curators, gallery owners, writers, as well as the public to rely in good faith on certain traders …
Due to the expensive manufacturing costs on the tropical woods design pieces, SEÑAL, S.A. profited from the installed equipment to produce a commercial line of colonial style furniture in pine and white cedar for hotels, government offices, etc. The legend says, that Don Shoemaker´s factory used to work 24 hours a day. …
Today I will show you a few samples of Don S. Shoemaker´s “Colonial Series”. This sewing table is very rare and produced in alder wood. Below, a sample page of the SEÑAL, S.A. catalogue featuring one of Don´s Colonial tables. With these posts, I hope that you are able to …
These are the Don S. Shoemaker “Conversation Pieces”, produced in volcanic pine heartwood by SEÑAL, S.A. I have only seen very few of these rare pieces in many years. This line was truly original! These samples were taken from a SEÑAL, S.A. catalogue that Dick Shoemaker was very kind to …
Here is a Don S. Shoemaker chair design from the early 1960’s. This chair is very unique; it was part of Don S. Shoemaker´s personal collection at his home in Santa Maria de Guido. The wood used to produce this charming little chair comes from a tropical tree extinct …
Coming from an affluent family, Don was originally from Nebraska. During the 1930´s he studied at the Fine Arts Institute of Chicago thinking to become a painter. After the end of WWII, he married Barbara and felt in love with Mexico on his honeymoon, he finally decided to move to …
