Restoring One Chair at a Time: Heywood-Wakefield C3596C Arm Chair
June 28, 2026
American modern design through the objects, colors, materials, and makers that shaped everyday style…
Maximalist provides a historical archive of American design from the 1930s through the 1960s, built from collecting, object study, graphic restoration, and close attention to the colors, forms, makers, and visual culture that shaped modern domestic style. Its creative studio, QwkDog Design, extends that world into original art, illustration, textile design, pattern, and digital work.
American Modern Design
EXPLORE THE MAIN COLLECTIONS
California Colorware
1930s California colorware brought modern optimism to the table with bright glazes, streamlined forms, and casual pieces made for everyday living. From Bauer and Pacific and others, these wares turned useful forms into cheerful expressions of color, craft, and West Coast style.
Furniture
From Heywood-Wakefield and rattan to Monterey and other American modern forms, this section explores the furniture that shaped the mid-century home—streamlined, casual, practical, and deeply tied to the changing look of everyday living.
Go-Alongs
Lighting, glassware, textiles, barware, and decorative objects that complete the room. This section explores the supporting pieces that added color, texture, shine, and personality to the American modern home.
The latest on Collecting & Design
Decorating the American Home: Sears Wallpaper for 1930
Sears wallpaper catalogs from the 1930s offer a revealing look at how Americans decorated their homes during a decade of...
Sears Wallpaper and Wall Oilcloth, 1955
Sears’ 1955 wallpaper catalog offered a broad mix of floral, scenic, geometric, and novelty designs for nearly every room in...
Decorating the American Home: Sears Wallpaper, 1936
The 1936 Sears wallpaper catalog offered homeowners an affordable way to transform a room during the difficult years of the...
Albert Van Luit and the Reinvention of Scenic Wallpaper
Founded in Hollywood in 1935, Albert Van Luit & Co. became one of Southern California’s best-known wallcovering manufacturers. The company...
Metlox Street Scene: Paris Sits Down at the Table
Metlox introduced Street Scene under its Poppytrail line in the mid-1950s. Street Scene shares its shape with several other Metlox...
Metlox Central Park: California Pottery with New York Style
Metlox introduced Central Park in 1953 as part of its Poppytrail dinnerware line. The pattern had a relatively short production...
Roselane Pottery’s Aqua Marine Line
Roselane Pottery was founded in Pasadena, California, in 1938 by William and Georgia Fields. Like many small California potteries of...
Metlox Del Rey: The Poppytrail Pattern with a Cocktail-Party Spirit
Metlox’s Del Rey pattern was part of the company’s California dinnerware line, produced under the Poppytrail name. It used Metlox’s...
Metlox’s Pepper Tree: A Leafy California Take on Modern Dinnerware
Metlox introduced Pepper Tree in the late 1950s as part of its Poppytrail dinnerware line. The pattern used the same...
Metlox California Freeform: Modern Dinnerware for People Who Wanted Something Different
Metlox introduced California Freeform in the mid-1950s as part of its Poppytrail dinnerware line, and the name was not just...
Fred Press’s Fish
Fred Press was one of the more visible designer names in mid-century American giftware. Born in Boston in 1919, he...
The Ladies of Marc Bellaire’s Cotillion
Marc Bellaire’s Cotillion belongs to the lively world of mid-century giftware, where a ceramic object could be useful, decorative, and...
Restoration projects
The wonderful world of QwkDog Design
The QwkDog portfolio is full of fantastic designs, illustrations, and patterns inspired by some of the best designers and artists of the 1930s, 40s, and 50s. Check it out!
