Stephen Coles

Stephen (alias Stewf, Stüf, Steuph, Stoopf) was born Stephen Johansson Coles in Salt Lake City, Utah to a saintly Swedish immigrant and a magazine publisher of local renown. After an idyllic upbringing he outgrew the quiet Mormon enclave and escaped to a dark, but beautiful Stockholm where he pushed pixels remotely for his brother’s graphic design concern. Just as he was about to see his first weeks of Scandinavian sun he was scooped up by a Berlin-based typeface supplier who found value in what to others was only a mildly amusing curiosity: his font identification prowess. The company installed him in their San Francisco office where he now labors joyfully as a creative director, copywriter, and evangelist.

Stephen publishes Typographica, Chromeography, and The Mid-Century Modernist, and contributes to The FontFeed.

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  • July 25, 04:00 AM

    “Mad Men” Furniture: Don Draper’s Office

    AMC’s “Mad Men” is not only one of the best dramas on television, it also debuted with perfect timing, at a moment when America’s fascination with mid-century style was at a fever pitch. Three years later, as Season 4 premieres, the frenzy for furniture and fashion of the 1960s is still hot.

    In celebration of tonight’s episode, let’s take a look at the show’s immaculate, award-winning production design. Starting with Don Draper’s office.

    Set in the early 1960s, nearly every shot of “Mad Men” is filled with objects from an era rich with new ideas, a time when modernism was still fresh, yet more mature than its early years — on the brink of going mainstream.

    Dan Bishop, Production Designer

    Of course, not everything we see in “Mad Men” was produced in the ’60s, as Production Designer Dan Bishop explains:

    We wanted to make sure it wasn’t a textbook study of mid-century modern America — as Matt specifically pointed out, look around your own house, does everything exist from 2007 or do you actually have stuff lying around from the ’80s?

    Property Master Scott Buckwald elaborates:

    … there are a lot of things that are holdovers, especially for the older generation. Their cars could be from the early ’50s. You have to watch out for the misinterpretations and prejudices you might have about the era. It’s also very easy to try to jam everything that was introduced in 1960 all into one episode. You have to space it out a little bit. ’Cause everything that was developed in 1960 didn’t happen in one day.

    We also don’t want to create a historical anachronism by putting a 1962 typewriter or transistor radio in, so we try to watch that, unless, creatively we just decide it’s a good way to go. Otherwise, we keep ourselves locked to April of 1960.

    Don Draper’s Office

    Amy Wells, Set Decorator (photo by Billy Kelly)

    Set decorator Amy Wells was responsible for the decor. Many of the pieces are originals, like the Eames Executive Chair (see it at DWR), others are reproductions. Wells was featured on NPR’s All Things Considered in anticipation of the Season Three premiere.

    Wells, oddly enough, is one of the few people on the Mad Men staff old enough to remember the era the show depicts. But she doesn’t just rely on her memories when she’s decorating a kitchen or a swanky office; she’s got a vast library of vintage catalogs and decorating books.

    “One of the best references — we just used it this morning for the size of a baby blanket — is the Sears catalogs and the Montgomery Ward catalog,” she says. “They’re so specific, and they have all these items. And then I have every decorating book from the late ’40s through the mid-’60s. So Better Homes & Gardens — you know, all those decorating books that came out every year — I have all of those.”

    Wells also revealed in the NPR interview her budget: $25,000 per week/episode. I imagine that’s increased since last season.

    Time-Life Executive Chair (ES 105)
    Eames
    FD-146 Chair
    Hvidt/Mølgaard-Nielsen
    Boxy set
    Simplaform/Futurama

    Don’s office was gently remodeled between the pilot and subsequent episodes. The simple leather chairs were replaced with cane-back pieces (possibly Hvidt/Mølgaard-Nielsen), and the desk lamp went from Bauhaus to ’50s twin. Don’s all-teak Danish modern desk from the pilot was a beauty with its backside display shelf (lonely and bare) but it was replaced with something that was much more common in an American office at the time: a larger Knoll or Steelcase, with metal legs and an overhanging surface.

    The drab walls of the pilot office get the biggest upgrade: rich wood paneling. Dan Bishop says in a special feature of the Season 1 DVD that the panels are real walnut (stained in the typical way), but creator Matthew Weiner thought it as too cold, so they added a red dye.

    Boxy Sofa
    Simplaform
    unnamed sofa
    Jydsk Møbelværk
    Goetz Sofa
    Herman Miller

    The lounge area of Don’s office is anchored by a Boxy sofa, armchair, and coffee table from Futurama, a Los Angeles shop that reproduces vintage designs. (Thanks to Javi!) The Futurama sofas are manufactured by Simplaform and are inspired by Jydsk Møbelværk and Milo Baughman. If you like this look, don’t forget Autoban’s Box and Herman Miller’s Goetz.

    And oh, that steel ashtray on a pedestal … the roulette cigarette dispenser … they make even non-smokers dream about decorating their pads with smoking accessories.

     

    What sort of desk will Don Draper grace in the new agency? Maybe we’ll find out tonight. In the meantime, the Mid-Century Modernist “Mad Men” Furniture series will continue. In the next installment we’ll step outside Don’s nest and explore the rest of Sterling Cooper’s former offices and the new digs of Season 4’s Sterling Cooper Draper Price.

    Read more:
    Props Gallery with commentary by Property Master Scott Buckwald
    Collectors Weekly interview with Buckwald
    Interior Design interview with Amy Wells

    Interested in items for sale that are related to pieces mentioned in this post? Mad Men Furniture Gallery »

  • June 29, 03:13 PM

    Risom Reborn: Rocket and Benchmark Reissue Nine Jens Risom Designs from 1950s and ’60s

    This week, London’s Rocket Gallery is launching a collection of nine pieces from the mid-century master Jens Risom. The release is the result of a four-year collaboration between Risom and gallery owner Jonathan Stephenson who hosted the first ever retrospective of vintage Risom pieces in 2007. Stephenson says their shared beliefs — “that good design can change lives, and beautiful, well-made objects should be accessible to everyone” — facilitated the partnership. However, it wasn’t until he introduced Risom to Sean Sutcliffe and Terence Conran at Benchmark, a UK company specializing in handmade furniture, that “he was sure we could produce a product that would meet his exacting standards.” Rocket and Benchmark have jointly secured the European rights to re-issue Risom’s 1950s and 1960s furniture designs.

    Risom, who was born in Copenhagen in 1916, describes himself as a Danish-born, American designer, not a Danish designer. His father Sven Risom was an award-winning architect and Risom says he lived with wonderful design for years before he “really got into it professionally.” He attended the School for Arts and Crafts in Copenhagen where he became close to Hans Wegner, one of the few designers whose furniture he has in his own home. He trained under Kaare Klint, the principal founder of the furniture school at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts. In 1938, he left for the United States where he thought he’d have a better chance of making a name for himself.

    Stephenson says the move was born out of Risom’s tremendous ambition. “He was such a good businessman, and he always says he left Denmark partly because there was so much competition there. He wanted to be a very big player in a much bigger market. His aim was to get good furniture into the hands of every American.”

    In fact, Risom describes the size of the market when he arrived with bemused dismay. “I came here without really knowing how impossible it was for a furniture designer to get going, because there was no furniture design in the United States. There was no acceptance of contemporary design or architecture. It’s true, there was nothing going on at that time. You could have looked for a furniture designer and you wouldn’t have found one. I was very, very early and it was fortunate,” he says.

    Risom was ahead of his time. When he applied at at the New York Museum of Modern Art (MOMA), an interviewer could not imagine what kind of job Risom hoped to find. Risom laughs when he says he started his furniture career working as a textile designer for Dan Cooper, a well-known interior designer.

    Cooper introduced Risom to many of the New York architects and designers who would champion his work. He describes the “young guys who were always coming by for a drink” as similarly discouraged about America’s unwillingness to embrace modernism.

    “They were always crying in their beer because there weren’t any customers and no one would buy contemporary things,” he says. But, it was this new generation of architects — always architects — that encouraged him.

    “Interior decorators were only interested in more traditional design and old things and making things look old. Anything new or contemporary especially from Europe, especially from Scandinavia, they didn’t want it,” he says.

    Designed in 1949, the iconic T 539 Magazine Table appeared in the first comprehensive Jens Risom Design catalogue.

    Risom, who believes one can reshape public taste with time and education, persisted. He asked craftsmen in his neighborhood — German and Italian furniture makers — to make his designs. He sold pieces directly to “the young men hanging around Mr. Cooper’s”, who went on to become some of the country’s most influential architects and designers. Risom participated in a number of high profile collaborations. One was with Hans Knoll, for whom he designed 15 of the 20 pieces in Knoll’s first collection, before starting his own business, Jens Risom Design Inc. (JRD) in 1946.

    Risom felt it was important to maintain control over not only the design elements of the company, but also the manufacturing. The introduction of his 1955 catalogue states: “Everything is designed and manufactured by us. Having the planning, engineering, and production all under one roof is very important, we think. It guarantees uniformity and continuity of style.” Hardly the detached designer with a sketchpad, he was on the factory floor every week and supervised day-to-day production. His obsessive pursuit of perfection in both form and function delivered enormously successful products. By the time he sold the business in 1970 to the Dictaphone Corporation, it was the third largest furniture company in America.

    Jens Risom catalogs and literature.

    While trolling eBay, Stephenson discovered Risom, who was relatively unknown in the UK since the sale of JRD. He was looking at furniture and a round label on the bottom of a chair caught his eye. It was Risom’s original typographic logo. Stephenson says the design of the label inspired him to explore Risom’s work.

    “His obsession with presentation and detail reminded me of my own,” he says. Moreover, this passion and discipline extended into every aspect of Risom’s business. “He wasn’t just involved with the design of the furniture, he was involved with the design of the whole company, from the selection of materials to the finish of each piece, the advertising campaigns, all the publicity, slogans, the logo, everything. He was quite an early example of that kind of comprehensive corporate identity.”

    Stephenson began seriously collecting Risom pieces in 2005. After he accumulated more than a 100 examples of original designs, he phoned Risom at his home in New Canaan, Connecticut and introduced himself. He explained Rocket was interested in holding a mini-retrospective of Risom’s work.

    Risom agreed, saying, “England has always been very close to my heart, in part because there was always more acceptance of modern design there than here in my own country.”

    Jens Risom visits Jonathan Stephenson at Rocket in 2006.

    The two began making plans, and in 2006, Stephenson flew to the United States to meet with Risom and others involved in the exhibition. Risom says, “I am very impressed with Jonathan’s courage; he is very knowledgeable and understands good design. It is a very warm affair when you find the right people.”

    Stephenson says it was clear from that outset that Risom was interested in getting some of his designs back into production. His original pieces were getting harder and harder to get a hold of.

    With a dwindling supply of vintage pieces, a number of companies approached Risom about reissuing his designs. Stephenson says they were turned down, “Jens’ standards were extremely high. He wasn’t confident that the quality was going to be upheld and felt that the manufacturing was going to go off to China or the Far East or whatever. He really wanted to know that the furniture was being made to the same standard that his own factory used to make it.”

    Stephenson was also keen to move toward furniture production but couldn’t find anyone to make the product he needed until a meeting with Sean Sutcliffe and a visit to the premises of Benchmark in Berkshire.

    “It became clear this was perhaps the only company in England capable of making Risom’s furniture to the required standards, in solid sustainable woods,” Stephenson says.

    The U 620 Bench is another iconic Risom piece, designed in the early 1950s.

    Benchmark is one of a handful of furniture companies left in the UK. Not only are they committed to “excellence in design, materials and craftsmanship” but also to keeping the skills and industry of furniture making alive in England. Stephenson already knew that Benchmark was exactly the right company to make the furniture, but the decision was finalized when Risom’s son Sven visited the Benchmark workshops to see the craftsmanship for himself. According to Stephenson, the younger Risom said, “The factory is exactly like my dad’s old factory, just smaller.”

    When asked what makes Risom’s work so relevant and sought after, Stephenson says, “I keep coming back to how functional his pieces are, how down-to-earth. There is nothing frivolous or gimmicky about them. His work is practical but still has enormous elegance. There’s nothing unnecessary about it.”

    Out of production since 1959, Benchmark and Rocket bring the simple, timeless U 431 back to life in oak or walnut with fabric or leather upholstery.

    He considers Risom’s furniture perfectly positioned for a 21st century revival. “The mid-century furniture world has come through its love affair with Danish furniture and is looking for the next trend to study and appreciate. Risom trained in Denmark, but took his skills and outlook to the United States where he created furniture that was a fusion of Danish craft and American modernism. His revival is well underway in the United States and in Europe it has started keenly. Market-wise, his vintage pieces have risen sharply in value over the last three years and so it is ideal timing to offer new re-issued pieces of Risom furniture,” Stephenson says.

    In his 94th year, Risom is also optimistic about the collaboration and happy to sate a world hungry for his designs.

    “As far as I am concerned, England is a charming country and I like to work with them, and that is what we’re looking forward to doing with Rocket,” says Risom. “I hope people will come to see it. I hope people will come and take advantage of sitting in the chairs and using the tables and cabinets because it’s all designed very much for contemporary people, us, you and me, to use and live with.”

    A preview of the Jens Risom collection will be held at Rocket on Thursday, 1 July from 6–9. The exhibition will run between the 2 July – 4 of September. The furniture can be viewed at jensrisom.com and will be available in select outlets. International inquiries welcome. The gallery is open Tuesday to Friday, 10–6 & Saturday 12–6.

    Photos copyright Paul Tucker, courtesy Rocket Gallery

  • June 21, 02:02 AM

    Refurnished, Remodeled, Rebuilt

    Welcome to the new Mid-Century Modernist. Before you even enter the doors, it’s clear things have changed around here.

    First, the obvious: the façade. With the expert help of my partner in bloggery, Chris Hamamoto, we’ve widened the site and enlarged the images. A grid view makes entries easier to traverse. Categories were rescued from obscurity, given a sensible hierarchy and placed at the top of the structure. (Expect these to expand in the near future.) The new Selected space at the right shines a spotlight on our favorite items. And at the bottom of each entry, related posts and eBay items beckon you to explore further. In short, three years of existing content is completely tidied up and refurbished.

    But what’s truly new is the addition at the back of the house. The Gallery is a curated showroom of the most interesting items from the mid-century modern era — for both sale and research. You can browse by tags denoting categories, materials, designers, and color. For this first release, it’s filled with items from eBay. The mega auctioneer is still one of the best ways to find affordable, original mid-century pieces online, but scoundrels and mislabeled items abound, making it difficult to seperate treasures from trash. We do the sifting for you, selecting the best items by hand every day.

    Special thanks to Laura Serra for her tireless work updating legacy posts to the new format, to Daniel Pennypacker for his code wrangling, and to Christian Schwartz for designing Neutraface Slab, the typeface adorning our new transom. All other type is set in FF Dagny, designed by Örjan Nordling and Göran Söderström and served up by Typekit.

    Though we’re now open to the public, our work is far from done. The beauty of the web is that a construction project is never finished. Follow the RSS feed or Twitter and keep an eye on the site for more developments in the near future. In the meantime, make yourself at home and let us know what you think. Our mailbox is open.

  • May 31, 07:32 PM

    Flip Clocks Inspired by the Solari Dator 5

    A BT637 calendar clock by Pierre Bodet, produced in the ’70s. Here’s the patent (PDF). It sold on eBay today for nearly $400.

    This tasty bit of eye candy for flip clock fetishists brought to my attention the piece that was probably its inspiration: the Dator 5 designed by Gino Valle and manufactured by Solari Udine in the mid- to late ’60s.

    A Solari Dator 5 in blue

    And as luck would have it, a generous Dutchman, Raymond Van Orsoy de Flines, has published video of the Dator 5 and its dateless cousin, the Cifra 5, in action. Witnessing all the noisy mechanics whir as it changes from one month to the next only makes my lust for this marvel grow deeper.

    There are more followers of Valle’s design in production today, including this wide range by Homeloo, but they clearly lack the spirit of the Solari Dator 5 or even the Bodet model.

    Here’s another beautiful example of a Bodet flip clock, this one with months in English.





    Finally, Adam Dorrell shot the innards of his Dator 5, noting the leap year function and blithely commenting, “This is why it’s great. No one would make a clock like this today. It would be cheaper to use ICs and a clock chip.”

    Solari is still a key producer of those fantastic split-flap displays seen in railway stations and airports. In fact, such displays are often called “Solari boards”. Thanks to Luke McKenzie for the info, who notes:

    Sadly, like most mechanical things that are awesome to behold, they easily fall into disrepair, and reliable, versatile, dull electronic signs are driving them to extinction.

  • January 14, 05:55 AM

    G. Coles-Christensen Launches Desi: Hand Woven, Socially Responsible, Modern Rugs Online

    Above: Desi is a new brand of contemporary carpets that are quite at home in mid-century modern interiors. Pictured: Tent Rocks.

    I haven’t really written about rugs and flooring on the blog because, frankly, I hadn’t found anything worthy of living under an Eames chair or Juhl coffee table. Unless you’re going the eclectic route, oriental rugs are generally out of order for modern design. And rugs with contemporary styling are often made by machines, using bleached and synthetic fabrics. They are mass-produced and they look that way.

    Of course there are always corners of the world where one can find handmade modern carpets sold by dealers who are not middlemen, but advocates of quality design and high ethics.

    One example of this kind of merchant is Gary Coles-Christensen, whose store in Santa Fe, New Mexico offers original, one-of-a-kind designs along with antique pieces. Gary has a relationship with each carpet. He knows the source of the material as well as the lives of the craftspeople who weave the products by hand. His operation has an integrity of design and production akin to that of the mid-century modern movement.

    Until now, you had to visit Santa Fe to soak up his collection. Not anymore. This week Gary launched Desi, a new brand with an online shop where you can browse and buy rugs online. Desi offers designs by Y Murata, Todd Scalise, Victoria Price, and Gary himself. The product showings are accompanied with personal descriptions from Gary along with his charming pen and ink drawings inspired by his trips to historical weaving capitals of the world like Turkey, Morocco, and India. In a move that breaks from high design tradition, every rug is in stock and available for purchase and delivery via PayPal.

    Desi is an unabashedly modern collection, alternately making use of clean spartan forms and organic, asymmetrical patterns derived from nature. Because the rugs are hand woven with unbleached fibers, they have an irregular, natural quality that would suit a mid-century modern home. All are durable enough to last a lifetime. Here are some of my favorites:

    Digitopolis and Fenice

    T Monk and M Davis

    Ishi, Ocean and Bonn, Moor

    Calder and Welt

    Social responsibility is also central to Gary’s business. He served on the RugMark Board of Directors and every Desi carpet carries the GoodWeave label, certifying that it was woven without the use of child labor.

    Full disclosure: Gary is my brother-in-law, so inevitably there is some bias in this post. But at least you know I can personally vouch for the quality of his stuff. I visit his store at least once a year so I’ve seen and touched the rugs. I even have one in my home. Don’t be afraid to hit him up with questions. He knows his stuff and is happy to chat about how they’re made or which design is right for your home.

    See more about the launch of Desi on my personal blog.

  • January 08, 02:30 PM

    West Elm Yellow

    I’m lukewarm about West Elm. Their hollow, veneered case goods are at IKEA’s level but their prices are not. Still, I do have a few of West Elm pieces and I’m happy with them. And they are one of the few catalog companies producing original and affordable design that stays true to a minimal modern aesthetic. I also think they create some tasteful, if slightly sterile, rooms for their product photography.

    The latest West Elm catalog just arrived and it introduces a new color to their spare palette: yellow. Even their logo has changed to reflect it.

    Perhaps the brand’s designers got wind of last year’s Pantone Color of the Year. Maybe Pantone truly is on top of current design trends, but I think their Color of the Year scheme is generally a case of the tail wagging the dog. Whatever the case, I like this flavor of yellow Pantone calls Mimosa, and not just because it’s long been central to the FontShop brand (my day job).

    West Elm’s yellow is very close to Mimosa and I think they use it well, brightening up their otherwise pale and earthy scheme. More from their new catalog below.

  • January 05, 06:51 PM

    Oiva Tableware by Maija Louekari for Marimekko

    Marimekko is about to celebrate its 60th birthday and it feels as young as it did when it took modern textile design by storm in the ’60s. The Legendary Finnish brand continues to produce new and original design, yet everything still feels very Marimekko. Perhaps it’s because they are able to court designers who fit so well into their graphic mold.

    Maija Louekari is a fine example. After winning a Marimekko-sponsored design competition in 2003, she’s designed several prints and textiles for the brand. Her latest work is emblazoned on a new line of tableware called In Good Company: Oiva.

    Thanks to Laura and Nestled In for introducing me to Ms Louekari.

  • December 30, 12:19 PM

    Treston Oy Palaset Storage System by Ristomatti Ratia

    Lookmodern has four cubes of Palaset storage from the 1960s in excellent condition. These sturdy cubbies are a simple way to add color to the office or kid’s bedroom. And you know they are tougher than today’s IKEA fare if they’ve survived over 40 years of use. Tough to find a good set of wide, shallow drawers too.

    The man behind the boxes is the Finnish Ristomatti Ratia. He’s the son of Armi Ratia, the founder of Marimekko and is still designing today. Read more about the Palaset series at Design of the Century.

  • December 24, 04:28 AM

    Flickr Pick of the Week: Vintage Bavarian Sign

    Prof. Michael Stoll writes:

    This signage from the ’60s I got from eBay a few years ago. It’s 2.60m wide and 0.5m tall. “Medicus” is the name of an orthopedic shoemaker. The signage had been on a building in Nürnberg/Bavaria.

    Like so much of mid-century modernism, this upright roman/script style of lettering has become quite en vogue these days. It’s lettering, of course, designed specifically for the the logo/sign, not from a typeface, but there are a few fonts which have a similar flavor. I made some lists at FontShop recently to lasso this and related genres: upright script fonts. See also monolinear scripts.
    via Laureola

  • December 23, 06:33 PM

    Nominated for a Homie

    I’m shocked and honored to see The Mid-Century Modernist is nominated for Apartment Therapy’s Homie Award. Head over and pick your favorites. You can nominate as many blogs as you like until December 29, then the top six from each category will advance to an official round of voting. Thank you to the kind souls who threw me into the ring!

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Stephen Coles

TypeBoard Member at FSI FontShop International
Graphic Design | San Francisco Bay Area, US

Summary

Writer, typographer, curator.
Specialties: typography, writing, copy editing, book design, logo design, typographic consultation, apropos music compliations, amateur beatboxing, entertaining children, foosball

Experience

  • Sept 2010 - Present

    TypeBoard Member / FSI FontShop International

    The FSI TypeBoard is a panel of type experts who meet every six months in FSI’s Berlin office to review and select upcoming FontFont releases.
  • Apr 2007 - Present

    Editor, Publisher / The Mid-Century Modernist

    I founded and publish this website, a tribute to the mid-century modern movement as both a historical milestone and a living ideal, reflected in today’s best furniture, architecture, and design.
  • 2001 - Present

    Editor, Publisher / Typographica

    Typographica.org is an online journal of typography featuring news, observations, and open commentary on fonts and typographic design.
  • 2000 - Present

    Moderator, Advisory Board / Typophile

  • 1994 - Present

    Senior Graphic Designer / Contact Design

  • Feb 2004 - Sept 2010

    Type Director / FontShop

    Produced and directed written and visual content, initiated and maintained foundry partnerships, and provided font selection advice at FontShop.com.
  • Jul 2005 - Jul 2008

    Board Member / Society of Typographic Aficionados (SOTA)

  • 1998 - 2001

    Art Director / Daily Utah Chronicle

Additional information

Honors:
AIGA Silver Medal
Interests:
typography, graphic design, product design, furniture design, documentary film, NPR, PBS, maps