For the most demanding clientele – Don´s Sling dining room set

March 15, 2011

Karin Goyer Don S. Shoemaker Design Lines - SEÑAL, S.A. , , , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment


Many of my readers have asked me about Don´s dining room sets with combining cupboards and cabinets. For this week I have decided to write about the Sling dining room set, the favorite among Don´s dedicated customers:

The Sling dining room was the most exclusive dining room set within Don´s repertoire. The complete set consisted of a rectangular dining table with parquetry top handcrafted in cueramo tropical wood, 8 or more Sling dining chairs (with and without armrests) in solid rosewood and a matching cabinet available in three sizes. The dining table´s shape has the unmistakable “Shoemaker” style:

The leather upholstery of these Sling dining chairs could be ordered in different colors as displayed in the vintage catalog page above, however, most Shoemakeristis preferred the traditional black leather…

The shape of the Sling cabinet remained always the same, but depending on the size of the dining room or the amount of different things that you wanted to display, the cupboard started with a 2-door display cabinet, the next version had on one side a 2-door display cabinet and shelves on the other side, and finally the largest model had a 2-door display, open shelves and a small compartment with door in the middle and another vertical display row on the opposite side. The separate sideboard had 1 drawer with 2 doors for the smallest version, 2 drawers with 4 doors for the medium size and 3 drawers with 6 doors for the large model. I have included a picture on the large Sling cabinet, a very impressive piece of furniture in your Don S. Shoemaker dining room.

Copyright © 2010-2017 Karin Goyer. All Rights Reserved.

@donshoemaker.com

The George R. Shoemaker heritage – Small cabinets

November 15, 2010

Karin Goyer George R. Shoemaker Heritage - ARRENDADORA SHOEMAKER , , Leave a comment


During one of George´s visits to our home he saw our brand new (at that time) Bang & Olufsen BeoSound 9000 (nowadays in the MoMa) and he decided to play some CD´s of his selection. My God! He opened the cabinet in which we stored the CD´s and it was a complete mess. Of course, they were in a perfect order according to my husband but anyway instantly he decided that he was going to design something to keep them in the proper order and “in style”.

So now I am delighted to show the result of this serendipity moment. George designed for us two small CD cabinets in solid cocobolo wood with two doors and he kept for himself another model with only one door.

Copyright © 2010-2017 Karin Goyer. All Rights Reserved

@donshoemaker.com

The Parsons cabinet

November 10, 2010

Karin Goyer Don S. Shoemaker Design Lines - SEÑAL, S.A. , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment


Don S. Shoemaker´s cabinets were the most impressive and expensive tropical woods furniture pieces to admire at SEÑAL, S.A. These superbly crafted luxuriant pieces are a true furniture statement, produced in very limited numbers, the perfect match to harmonize with your Don S. Shoemaker dining room set, or together with a “Descanso” set, maybe to furnish your library combined with some Sling Swinger chairs or just to decorate your office.

The Parsons cabinet presented here today is part of my personal collection. It has been in my family for more than 30 years and still looking absolutely astonishing! This cabinet made in cocobolo belongs to the Parsons line (which included complete dining room sets, office furniture, coffee tables, living room sets, bedroom sets, etc.), all produced with parquetry in cocobolo or rosewood), it has a unique and timeless sliding doors design, also pay attention to the color of the parquetry: a warm and nice dark patina, a result to the aging process.

Notice the inside finish of the drawer (see picture). As already discussed in another post, the wood inner face that has not been exposed to the sunlight normally has a much lighter color than the outside, as the sunlight darkens the wood. However, the key point here is to remember one of Don´s trademarks: perfect craftsmanship with drawers always made in solid tropical woods. Of course, this elegant piece carries the Don S. Shoemaker decal studio label.


I have seen forgeries with the drawer front produced in cueramo wood, the drawer sides finished with cheap pine wood and a plastic laminated bottom (see picture).

Copyright © 2010-2017 Karin Goyer. All Rights Reserved

@donshoemaker.com

The George R. Shoemaker heritage – ARRENDADORA SHOEMAKER

September 25, 2010

Karin Goyer George R. Shoemaker Heritage - ARRENDADORA SHOEMAKER , , , Leave a comment


Special credit should be awarded to Don´s beloved son George, who, after Don passed away in 1990, took over and directed with great dedication the company under the label “ARRENDADORA SHOEMAKER“, producing many of his own designs and furniture pieces under this brand name until his early death in 2005.

Many of George´s designs were unique and of great creativity. I would like to stress on the fact that George deserves his own chapter in this website. Unfairly, most George R. Shoemaker designs are being copied and sold as “Don S. Shoemaker originals”.

I will share with you some of George´s furniture designs that I have documented, which date back to his time in the 1990´s:

This round table was part of an impressive dining room set designed by George R. Shoemaker in rosewood (cueramo). One of George´s improvements to point at  is the finish of his round table edge: he made these of solid wood to prevent the parquetry from chipping.  It is very common to get a dent on the edge of the round table parquetry design of his Dad. The parquetry on George´s table top surface was very different compared to the shiny finish on the table top from his father.

This fabulous dining room set was combined with 8 chairs made in solid cueramo with black leather upholstery, this chair style was one of the favorite Don S. Shoemaker designs for the more conservative dining room sets and was reproduced by George in a way we can only call it perfect.

The enlarged cabinet shown below was part of that same dining room set, and is also a further development of George on his Dad´s original design, a very dramatic piece of furniture. The complete set looks absolutely incredible!

Copyright © 2010-2017 Karin Goyer. All Rights Reserved

@donshoemaker.com

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