1930s Lurelle Guild Tabletop Tray Centerpiece

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Description

Vintage sleek art-deco/ art Moderne Aluminum & Brass centerpiece, bar top display, vanity top for perfumes and objects, spectacular centerpiece, … Read more Vintage sleek art-deco/ art Moderne Aluminum & Brass centerpiece, bar top display, vanity top for perfumes and objects, spectacular centerpiece, designed by famed industrial machine age designer Lurelle Guild for Alcoa - Kensington.

Stamped/engraved on the bottom with "Kensington" with their stag in enclosed 'K' shield.
In overall good condition with typical
minor scuffs/scratches that are only visible when held to light at an angle.

Notes: In 1934 Alcoa introduced a revolutionary new line of aluminum alloy giftware and domestic items designed by American pioneer industrial designer Lurelle Guild. Called Kensington Ware, these expensive, sleek, streamlined machine-age objects were in an unmistakably Art Deco style with cast brass accents. They represent an important American contribution to modern design and decorative arts. The Kensington plant ceased production around 1965.
Biography:
Lurelle Guild (American, 1898-1985)

Lurelle Van Arsdale Guild (1898 in Syracuse, New York – 1985 in Darien, Connecticut) was an architect, industrial designer, and interior designer. After studying painting at Syracuse University (graduated 1920), Guild worked as an illustrator and writer. He started Lurelle Guild Associates in 1928. In 1944, Guild was a founding member of the Society of Industrial Designers in New York. (Genealogical sources indicate that Guild was actually born in Manhattan, NY on August 19, 1898. It is not known where the information came from that he was born in Syracuse).

Over the years, Guild's clients included Alcoa, Aluminum Cooking Utensil Company, Chase Brass & Copper Company, Electrolux, Heywood-Wakefield, International Silver Company, Kensington, Inc., Pullman Company, Revlon, and the Scranton Lace Company.

Lurelle Guild's designs are in several museum collections. In the Carnegie Museum of Art collection in Pittsburgh, there are several Guild designs for Kensington, Inc. (including platters, sugar bowl, teapot, coffeepot, milk jug, and a pitcher). In the Marshall Johnson Collection of Cookware and Appliance Design Drawings at the Hagley Museum and Library (Greenville, Delaware), there are several drawings of Guild's designs for Kensington Ware aluminum products (1922-1960).

Yale University Art Gallery holdings include designs by Guild including a canape plate and wine cooler for Chase Brass & Copper Company; the "Stratford" bowl for Kensington, Inc.; a "Regency" asparagus platter, "His Royal Highness" coffee service and "Chatham" pattern pitcher for International Silver Company; and the "Wear-ever" kettle for the Aluminum Cooking Utensil Company.

Guild's designs for the International Silver Company are included in the following museum collections: Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, New York; Dallas Museum of Art; the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Minneapolis Institute of Art. Guild's works for the International Silver Company have been in museum exhibitions including the touring exhibition American Modern, 1925-1940: Design for a new age (2001–02) and the touring Modernism in American silver: 20th century design show (2005–07).

In 1934-35, Lurelle Guild exhibited his designs for a cocktail shaker and vegetable dish at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

This fabulous Art Deco 1930s polished aluminum and brass tray was designed in 1934 for Kensington Inc. The Kensington Ware line was introduced in 1934 by Alcoa as high-end aluminum alloy giftware and domestic items. It was marketed as having the same advantages of silver, pewter and chrome but none of the disadvantages. It did not tarnish or stain. Wonderful, classic & rare piece for the vintage or art deco home!

Polished metals are difficult to photograph, but as aluminum is a soft metal, this piece has picked up some scratches here and there. They're not very noticeable in person, and I've done my best to show any marks. There are no dents or discoloration.

Dimensions: 16" diameter. The feet are 1" tall.

Lurelle Van Arsdale Guild, (1898 - 1985) New York, was an American architect and prolific industrial designer. After an art education at Syracuse University,and an early career in magazine illustration he began industrial designs for home products.Over 1,000 patents and the 1937 claim to art deco fame for his design of the Electrolux vacuum cleaner.
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