A Mel Smilow History lesson on Core77

Need a little Mel Smilow history lesson? This piece by Core77 is the extensive write-up we'll be referencing for the next decade. Find an excerpt below and the full piece linked above.

A Mid Century Modern Designer Whose Name You Should Know: Mel Smilow

How a kid from the Bronx dropped out of Pratt and achieved entrepreneurial design success

If I asked you to rattle off some famous Mid Century Modern designers, I already know which names you'd say. Chances are it wouldn't have included this fellow, but you should certainly know his name, and how his combination of design skills and business savvy led to a successful career. And how his deep portfolio has led to a recent resurgence of interest in his work.

Mel Smilow was a kid from the Bronx who, in 1939, got accepted into Pratt Institute. His plan was to become a commercial artist. Unfortunately, Mel's father died that same year, and he had no choice but to drop out of school and take over the family business. His father had been a furniture wholesaler, a middleman between furniture manufacturers and retailers, and Mel took over the reins in order to feed his family.

Then came World War II, where Smilow traded a suit and tie for U.S. Army fatigues. After fighting Nazis in Europe under General Patton, Smilow returned with a Purple Heart.

After returning to New York in 1945, Smilow resumed selling furniture. Over the course of the next few years, he came up with a bold idea.

To explain: A furniture wholesaler, or middleman, had the then-important job of serving as the conduit between the factory and the retailer. Wholesalers survived by taking their cut of the transactions. That cut drove the price of the final product up. Smilow of course knew this, and he and business partner Morton Thielle had this thought: What if they vacated the middleman position, and instead served as the manufacturer--and the retail outlet? With this arrangement, the middleman's cut disappears, and the price of the final product could be lowered.

They succeeded in setting up this arrangement by 1949, and opened their first storefront in Manhattan on Lexington Avenue.

Read more here.