Vintage storage is back in vogue

Storage furniture will always earn its keep, whatever its age. Kya de Longchamps looks at some sophisticated selections

OLD does not have to mean antique, and it does not have to equal serious or seriously expensive either. Recognising an emerging trend and good design whatever its age, is key to worthy, bargain buys. The enduring appeal of 1950s storage pieces has kicked forward as late as the 1970s and frolicked up to the 1980s in quality products. Well made utilitarian bookcases including vintage sideboards, shelving and dressers are right back in vogue.

Finding your groove

From the 50s forward, the middle-class were keen to modernise their homes and new forms of mass produced storage and display furnishings exploded onto the marketplace. Sufficiently removed by a good forty years of other fashions, what once made our teenage sensibilities curl up and die, excites our nostalgia and appreciation. If you want a snapshot of the look, IKEA’s popular mid-century modern Scanda-style is gleaned directly from this classic era. www.ikea.co.uk. Your weekly fix of Mad Men offers a hip education in their authentic set dressing of sophisticated 1960s households and offices.

In terms of antique or vintage, if space is at a premium, demand task with aesthetics. Storage furniture will always earn its keep and the lines of mid-century modern are clean, quiet and easy to live with. When it comes to intention, lifestyles have changed. The drinks cabinet, hostess trolley, sewing table and pronged magazine rack may seem obsolete today. However, you can re-purpose anything to suit yourself from a 1820s Georgian linen press to a 1970s revolving bookcase. Think creatively. Now, this does not imply that every single thing turned out in this thirty to forty year span is worthy. There’s plenty of wobbly tat, and star spangled Formica with paper thin veneers or photo renditions of wood clogging the backrooms of provincial auction houses every week.

Sideboards

Low vertical sideboards originally intended for the etiquette of the dining room are the first point of entry for many collectors of 20th century vintage. These horizontally slung handsome devils are funky, versatile and easy to slot into a contemporary room-scape. You’re looking for a low, almost elasticated cabinet, the front two or four legs somewhat crowded to the front mid-panel, or a squarer, taller piece lifted up on lofty thin supports in wood or metal. Danish, Swedish and UK designer pieces from Morgens Kold, Clausen, Nils Jonsson (Sweden), Habitat, Heal, Ercol, McIntosh, John & Sylvia Reid and G-plan are especially sought after. There are dozens of lesser makes who took their lead from these catwalk designer models, so don’t forgo something without a badge or by an unknown maker if you respond to it. You may find someone in the family has a forgotten treasure under attack in a teenage den awaiting rescue. Sturdy but deemed ‘ugly’ quality mid-century items were often discreetly kept because they were still practical if nothing else.

A sideboard can be used for anything from dining to bedroom storage, and its neat wall hugging profile is perfect for slotting into a hallway as a side-table delivering a trunk load of blind storage. You could grab one of these overlooked stunners in the second-hand market from around €50-€100. Resist the temptation to upcycle a good piece with a new paint or stain job as the original finishes (solid and veneered) are now demanded from collectors. These pieces often limp into the light somewhat greyed out. A modest application of teak or tung oil is often enough to drown out dings and scratches and reignite that first year groove. Folding doors, etched glass, tambours and articulated drink trays are highly desirable features. Contemporary choice: Bjursta sideboard from IKEA in brown-black. €202. Winter Twenty10 from Nest Design. POA. www.nest-design.com.

Shelving

Early system shelving and floating wall units from the 1960s and 1970s with metal and timber elements are another flourishing market. Look for the same plain styling in good timber with open shelving, cubbies and leggy industrial supports below. The piece may include a drinks cabinet, cutlery compartments and even a desk. Great names include Ladderax from Heal, Robin Day for G-plan (and others), Terence Conran, Royal Shelving by Paol Cadavers (Denmark), Peter Hayward for Vanson and Vitsoe (still trading and described as Lego for grown-ups). If you find the shelving unit is polished back and front, it may well have been intended as a room divider as the small rooms were starting to surrender their dividing walls for the first rays of open plan living. Look out for solid construction, good figuring to the wood, complete veneers and solid teak with touches of more opulent woods such as ebony. If there is a makers label it will quite likely be on the back, so take a peek with a torch.

Vitsoe systems from www.vitsoe.com (UK), and ELFA shelving. Howard’s Storage World. www.hsw.ie.

Desks and drawers and function shifts

Early desks in rosewood and teak with a good solid construction are all the rage, and levitating tops over deep drawers (termed floating tops) are ideal for a side-table or as a working desk. Second hand office outlets offer a fertile hunting ground if you like a touch of industrial with your domestic, and don’t be afraid to eek up to the Gordon Geko 1980s flash in a larger, well made desk. Mid-century dressing tables, often detached from any mirrors appear regularly on the second hand market and can be re-purposed for the bedroom or as neat writing tables. Teak chests of drawers standing on long legs, can sit anywhere as elegant tall boys, so don’t feel you have to confine their charm to the bedroom. Quirky vertical offset 1960s and 1970s dressing mirrors with polished teak framing list around the back of any junk shop.

Matching one to a small table or chest of drawers, re-introduces them as a pier style glass and occasional side-table for a corridor, hallway or nook. Contemporary choices: Explore the best to see what to demand of the rest. We love the new Eco Design range at Roche Bobois (Dublin). www.rochebobois.ie. Office outlets often feature well made desks that draw on vintage lines.