Gilbert Rohde "Model 4105" Paldao Group Sideboard Credenza for Herman Miller

Today’s design world carries with it well known names and studios which are celebrated for their work or notable contributions. With the internet and social media, it is commonplace for design work to become ubiquitous in a moment’s time, such is surprisingly true of the design world 100 years prior to today. In the early 1900’s there existed a collective of designers and their respective firms who served as momentous forces in changing how the world understood architecture, industrial design, art, and furniture. A star member of this group was a man by the name of Gilbert Rohde whose work for Herman Miller transcended the divide of surrealist art and home furnishings.

A native New Yorker, Gilbert Rohde studied art after his secondary education at Stuyvesant High School. His education in the arts served as a foundation for his later work in furniture. Frequent trips to Europe in the 1920’s introduced Rohde to the then-popular design movements such as the Bauhaus School, Streamline Art-Deco, and most importantly Surrealism. Rohde was one of the first to pair modern day materials with extravagant exotic woods such as Brazilian Paldao for which his most notable collection “The Paldao Group” for Herman Miller was named. This Sideboard is an example from the 80-piece collection within which Rohde explored ideas of surrealism with organic forms and voluptuous curves. He coined the term “Ectoplastic” for this defining motif of the Paldao Group.

This Model 4105 Sideboard is a four-cabinet design with a subtle scalloped front which gives the piece an organic appearance. Brilliantly restored exotic Brazilian Paldao wood is book-matched on its face to showcase the rich grain and natural fluidity. The Paldao Collection’s most notable elements are Rohde’s generous pulls which on this piece are crafted from wood, hand carved with an undulating design borrowed from Surrealist forms. The sideboard’s interior offers ample storage with eight drawers and two shelves. Overall this is an excellent preserved example of early 1940’s Herman Miller design by the great Gilbert Rohde, a household name once celebrated in newspapers and magazines such as House Beautiful and who’s work lives in the collections of the Brooklyn Museum, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and many more.