Over the past twenty years, the Kindel Furniture Company has developed a number of hallmark objects from its collections including Winterthur and The Irish Georgian Society. These special selections can best be described as Masterworks.

Many objects that bear the new Kindel Masterworks label are based on originals that are clearly Best of Kind and will never be available to the general public.

Objects in the Masterworks category have some of the following characteristics:

• Provenance
• Best of Kind
• Elaborate Decoration
• Hand Carving
• Structural Fidelity
• Design Integrity

The Kindel Masterworks label is a tribute to the significant transformation of the Kindel brand over the past two decades.

Provenance

The provenance of an object indicates its history. For example, this original desk-and-bookcase has an important provenance:

Place of Origin: Newport, Rhode Island

Date: Circa 1740

Maker: Townsend and Goddard Families

Made for: The Updyke Family

Now located: Winterthur Museam

Other: One of ten originals. Its mate sold for a record breaking $12.1 million in 1989.

This impeccable provenance is extremely valuable to a collector because it is known, it is rare and the object was produced by the most important 18th century New England cabinetmakers.

Best of Kind

The term Best of Kind is used in the field of furniture scholarship to denote an object that is considered to be an outstanding example of its genre.

Some of Kindel Masterworks based on Best of Kind

Philadelphia Piecrust Tea Table.

Circa 1765. Kindel's mahogany tea table features an American birdcage mechanism. An original tea table sold a Christie's in 1990 for $1.2 million and then again in 1995 for $2.4 million.

Newport Chest

A Kindel Masterworks recreation of a rare block-fronted chest with Newport shells and solid brass escutcheons and pulls. A Newport chest signed by John Townsend sold for $4.7 million in 1998.

Goddard Tea Table

The original was mage for Captain Buckminster Brintnall in the 1770's. It is one of seven known examples crafted by the noted Goddard cabinetmakers. A Goddard table sold in January of 1998 for $4 Million.

Elaborate Decoration

Kindel is know for its attention to detail. Nowhere is this more evident than in the elaborate decoration used to embellish our objects.

Raised Gesso Chinoiserie

This 18th century technique requires an artisan to sketch a Chinese allegorical scene on an object. This step is followed by the selective application of gesso to give the scene dimension. Finally, gold and silver leaf are applied.

Hand Painting

Kindel artisans spend hours hand painting elaborate decoration. This is an authentic and for more labor intensive process than simply using silk screening or decals. These artisans make Kindel hand painted objects unique works of art.

Solid Brass Ormolu and Hardware

The use of solid sand cast brass ormolu dates to the late 18th century. Ormolu is decorative brass whereas hardware is functional. The brass elements and hardware used by Kindel are in themselves jewel-like ornamentation.

Hand Carving

In 1980, Kindel was awarded the furniture license for the Winterthur Museum. These reproductions are bench-built today in the same Grand Rapids Tradition that Kindel has been known for since 1901.

In order to reproduce a "line of line copy of the original," we had to recreate the art of hand carving. There Simply are no machines in the world that can accurately render the depth, exuberance and articulation of the hand carving of the 18th century.

Whether an object is a reproduction, an adaptation, or part of the Kindel Collections, all carved detail is executed by one of the 15 Kindel Master Carvers.

Structural Fidelity

Structural fidelity combines proper engineering and construction with the highest quality materials. At Kindel, every object is imbued with structural fidelity such as in this Philadelphia Easy Chair.

A. Wood - The frame is made of solid hard maple which is dried to a moisture content of 5%. This prevents the frame from warping.

B. Dowels - The use of wood dowels in this arm and throughout the frame adds stability because they move with the frame.

C. Eight-Way Hand Tied - This chair features nine 9-gauge springs which are tied and knotted eight times each with 15-ply nylon twine. Unlike webbing used by others, the spring seat is far more comfortable and will not sag.

D. Corner Blocks - The substantial corner blocks which are shaped to the front curve of the chair enhance the stability of the frame and prevent the legs from becoming loose over time.

Design Integrity

Design integrity is indicated in an object by an object by aesthetic features such as:

• Proportion
• Balance
• Articulated Detail
• Quality of Materials

The Updyke Rhode Island Desk-and-Bookcase

The original desk-and-bookcase is considered by scholars to possess more design integrity than other original examples because it is proportionally correct.

This Kindel Masterworks object conforms to our standard for reproduction which is:

A line for line copy of the original using the same primary and secondary materials.

The Kindel design is accurate. The materials are mahogany solids and veneers over poplar - never particle board.