Here is an extremely rare 1930s Herman Miller Modernist table/alarm
clock designed by Gilbert Rohde. It is all original and has
been fully restored/rewired to perfect working condition. This
is a stunning example of the most forward-thinking Modernist
design of the 1930s. The cylindrical case of the clock is made
of a heavy and polished black bakelite while the bar that visually "pierces" the
clock is made of gleaming chromed brass. There is a brass second
hand, black straight minute hand and a black hour hand in the
trademark teardrop shaped design.
The Measurements:
The clock face measure 5-1/2" in Diameter X 2-5/8" Deep
The
total length is 13-3/8"
About Gilbert
Rohde
(b New York, 1894; d New York, 16 June 1944). American
industrial designer. He learned cabinetmaking in his father's
shop in the Bronx, New York, and then worked as an illustrator
of furniture for several New York retail shops. In 1927 he
made a trip to Paris and there saw examples of the modernism
known subsequently as Art Deco. On his return to America he
undertook freelance interior design projects and made custom-built
modern furniture for private clients In 1929 he opened a design
office in New York, concentrating on interior design and developing
furniture in the early modernist style. In 1930 he established
a relationship with Herman Miller Inc. of Zeeland, MI, a firm
that had previously made products imitating various traditional
styles. Rohde convinced the firm of the superiority of the
ideas of modernism at a time when this direction was virtually
unknown in the USA; he developed an extensive line of furnishings
that combined functional ideas and simplicity of form with
decorative details that were characteristically 'modernistic'.
About Herman
Miller
Herman Miller began in 1923 as a manufacturer of traditional
residential furniture, became a leader in "modern" furniture
in the 1930s and 1940s; developed lasting ties through the
1950s with legendary industrial designers like Gilbert Rohde
who led us in new directions.