Seems like new times

GERARD O’BRIEN wasn’t expecting a reunion. An avid collector of 20th century California furniture and decorative objects, he simply wanted to stage an exhibit of pieces defining an era and a sensibility.

“Postwar California was a hotbed of creativity,” says O’Brien, 40. During that time, industrial designers such as Charles Eames and studio artisans such as ceramist Peter Voulkos set the pace. The state ranked second in furniture production, with Glenn of California, Brown Saltman and other companies employing top-tier architects of the day.

For his exhibition running through the month, O’Brien begged and borrowed pieces from clients and drew from his personal collection. More than four dozen artists are represented, filling two floors of O’Brien’s La Cienega Boulevard furniture showroom, Reform, with more than 200 classics, from tiny enamel ashtrays to racetrack oval dining suites that can seat eight. He spent more than $10,000 to stage the show -- a pittance for a museum but a sizable investment for a retailer, especially when a good number of items are not for sale.

“The payoff for me was the opening night,” he recalls. Looking around his gallery, O’Brien saw woodworker Sam Maloof sitting in one of his hand-carved walnut rocking chairs and esteemed ceramist Otto Natzler describing the glaze on a bowl he had made some 50 years ago. He saw Jerry and Evelyn Ackerman, who had exhibited in all 12 “California Design” shows that ran from 1954 to 1976 at the now-defunct Pasadena Museum of Art. They had brought O’Brien rare examples of their work, including magnificent equine door handles made from cast brass with vermillion agate stone inlays.

Eudora Moore, curator of “California Design” from 1962 to 1976, called those shows a “coming-out party for industrial design and the craft movement.” Seeing the work at O’Brien’s exhibit decades later, she says, “validates my impression that it was a glittering creative time. It is amazing how well the work holds up. It doesn’t look dated at all.”

Not that it should. Looking through the goods at home decor stores -- hand-wrought Modernist tables, Jonathan Adler’s woven textiles, the volcanic glazed ceramics of Atwater Pottery -- is like lifting the lid on a time capsule.

O’Brien first became aware of the breadth of California design while selling vintage furniture at an outdoor flea market in Manhattan. Visiting local 20th century design galleries in New York City, he came across intriguing works by architects Paul Laszlo and Paul Tuttle. By the time he moved to Los Angeles in late 2001, he had found his calling.

Made-in-California midcentury furniture and accessories had a distinctive character, yet were largely ignored by East Coast Modernist dealers and local retailers. “There was a simplicity in form and function, and the materials used for manufacturing furniture -- metal, redwood, rattan, laminates and plastic -- were always innovative and expressive,” O’Brien says.

Equally important were the one-of-a-kind studio pieces in glass, clay, yarn, wire and wood. Notable for their tactile quality, these craft items represent the organic side of California design.

“Not to sound corny, but they have a soul. It wasn’t so much about commerce as it was about craftsmanship,” he says.

“I love to tell the stories behind the designers and how they fit into the modern movement,” adds O’Brien, who “brought things full circle” by commissioning midcentury architectural photographer Julius Shulman to document the show.

Local dealer Sam Kaufman says the exhibit is a natural progression for O’Brien, as “his passion for the material preceded his realization that he could make a living by handling it, and it remains his main motivation.”

Adds Jerry Ackerman: “There are a lot of dealers in Los Angeles who are hep to who did what back then. Gerard is putting his money where his mouth is. I don’t think there’s a better collection.”

Jo Lauria, co-author of “California Design: The Legacy of West Coast Craft and Style,” a recently published Chronicle book on the Pasadena Museum exhibitions, gives high marks to O’Brien’s first venture as a curator.

“I saw things I had only seen in photographs before -- beautifully handcrafted wooden furniture by John Nyquist and a large collection of the Ackermans’ textiles, which range from folkloric figurative designs and mythical scenes to absolute minimalism,” Lauria says. She was particularly impressed with the enamels on display by the late Jackson Woolley and Annemarie Davidson, who is still working in Sierra Madre, and calls the show “a very good sampling of what the ‘California Design’ exhibitions were all about.”

For the participants, being accepted into the juried show was a point of pride and a launching pad for commerce. “The principal thrust of the show was to get people interested in good design for their homes, at all kinds of prices,” Evelyn Ackerman says. “From a practical point of view, it gave exposure to California designers who were starting a whole new trend toward casual and indoor-outdoor living.”

For artists in O’Brien’s show, the revival of interest in their designs is a welcome moment of validation.

“We’re happy that we’re still alive and were able to enjoy this,” says Jerry Ackerman, who shared a laugh with Nyquist over the $15,000 price of two Nyquist ottomans in the show.

In contrast with the works of East Coast designers such as George Nakashima, O’Brien says West Coast designers’ works can still be collected “at really fair prices because appreciation of the ‘California Design’ subset of Modernism is still in its infancy.”

It has already begun to find a new audience, says Moore, who notes that her daughter, an archeologist living in Italy, was “intrigued and enthused when I sent her a copy of ‘California Design.’ ”

This doesn’t surprise O’Brien or Lauria one bit. “My theory on collecting in general is that every 25 years there’s a new generation of people born with a clean slate who need to be educated about what came before them in design,” Lauria says. “For people in their mid-30s and mid-40s who grew up with the machine-made things, these modern manufactured pieces and handcrafted items are a resonant new discovery. Every generation claims some territory, and this will be the territory they will claim.”

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On view

Gerard O’Brien’s exhibition of furniture and decorative arts from the mid-20th century is at Reform, 816 N. La Cienega Blvd., Los Angeles; (310) 854-1033.

David A. Keeps can be reached at david.keeps@latimes.com.