Kagan Receives ASFD Lifetime Achievement Award

Furniture World Magazine

On Saturday, April 8, at the peak of the Spring International Home Furnishings Market, the American Society of Furniture Designers honored Vladimir Kagan, ASFD with its Lifetime Achievement Award. The presentation was made before one hundred guests at a gala dinner, held at the Womenís Club in High Point,N.C. The presentation was preceded by tributes from industry associates including Frank Bingham, vice president of Preview Furniture and Henry Hacker, executive vice president of Alexander Julian Inc. Prior to the presentation, Kagan presided over a slide presentation highlighting five decades of his work as a furniture designer. Kagan, who is renowned for his sensuous curving lines, has been a pioneer modern furniture designer for more than 50 years. His first works date back to the late 1940s. These early efforts were a reaction to the dearth of creativity in American furniture, which he said was a byproduct of the lean years of the depression and the devastation of the war that followed. "After groping in the first years of my career, for a handwriting of my own, I began flirting with anatomically inspired biomorphic designs," he said. "These metamorphosed into the sculpted chairs and cabinets that became the signature pieces of my fifties designs." Today Kagan is highly regarded by both his colleagues and the many celebrity clients, collectors and museum curators who have sought his work for their permanent collections. In his acceptance speech Kagan admitted that staying modern for more than fifty years has not always been easy. "I am a product of the 20th century and as such, I felt it my duty to work in a 20th century idiom-- new materials and new lifestyles." "have spent a lifetime preaching modern," which he said was a Zen experience. "In an industry driven by the decorative, where traditional is the key buzzword, where transitional means stepping out and where contemporary is thought to be the cutting edge of modern, it was difficult to stay in the groove as a purist." He did stay in the groove, and his renewed success and popularity today are testament to his vision and creativity. At this past April market, Preview Furniture Co. introduced an updated version of his Tangent sofa collection from 1958. This living room group consists of a loose cushioned boomerang shaped sofa, a chaise and a generous lounge chair and ottoman. Preview's Bingham said it was the most popular new introduction at the market for his company. Another recent client of Kagan's, American Leather, has had success with several of his designs: Rock Star, a snug rocker in three sizes; Dot.com a three-level seating concept layered in colorful leather cushions and Pegasus, the first reclining chair designed with the woman of the house in mind. Color is the strong fashion statement for the season. In view of this, American Leather is bringing out the Kagan classics as well as last market's successful Gigi sofa and chair grouping. On the drawing boards for October is a collection of exciting new sofa and chair concepts. Kagan's renewed acceptance knows no boundaries. This past January in Cologne, he launched his immensely successful Kagan New York Collection, produced by Club House Italia. Club House Italia has opened Kagan Galleries in Tokyo, Seoul, Warsaw, Moscow, Athens, Tel Aviv and will soon debut in London and Munich. Also in April, Kagan introduced more than 35 designs at the Salone Internazionale del Mobile in Milan. "Throughout my 50-year career," said Kagan, "I have always tried to give modern the warmth and eloquence that is so much the attraction and charm of an 18th century home. It is still the missing ingredient in much of modern today. I have never shied from looking backward to find the future. "My home is filled with antiques," he continued. "I appreciate creativity and beauty from all ages. As a modernist, I respect the past; I do not deny it. It revitalizes my imagination and is reincarnated in a joyous presentation of modern design."