Julian Goldklang (left) and Gabe Magana inside their workshop/garage. Beside Gabe, a side table with built in coasters designed by Magnus Olesen. Center, an unmarked mid-century walnut buffet.
One of the things we love most about working on Haighteration is getting to meet Lower Haight residents who are doing really interesting stuff. Such was the case recently when we had a garage-side chat with Gabe Magana and Julian Goldklang.
Gabe (who lives near Haight and Steiner) and Julian (a Mission resident) are friends, former co-workers, and the duo behind popular furniture site Mid Century Møbler. Together, they acquire, restore, and offer great pieces of vintage furniture, all from inside a humble garage just a short walk from the Lower Haight.
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As with many great endeavors, Mid Century Møbler began mostly as a hobby.
Gabe and Julian met while working for the same TV production company in 2005, but their passion for mid-century collectibles began long before that. In fact, it dates back to their teenage years — although in those days, it wasn’t furniture, but rather automobiles that the two prized. (Julian’s first car was a 1958 Pontiac Starchief, and Gabe’s a 1965 Chevy Nova.)
Fast forward to 2009. Gabe is working for a TV production company in Marin, spending little-to-no time thinking about furniture. That is, until fate intervenes.
While furniture shopping with his girlfriend one day, Gabe happens to meet Chris Howard, a mid-century furniture dealer in the East Bay. It turns out that Chris needs an extra pair of hands for some furniture restoration projects he’s working on. It also turns out that Gabe’s contract with his production company will soon be expiring. To Gabe, this seems like a great opportunity to try a new trade.
Thus begins a five-month apprenticeship, during which Gabe learns the art of identifying and refinishing mid-century furniture. (It also happens to be around this time that he moves to the Lower Haight — big summer for Gabe!)
Finally, a few months later, Julian makes a discovery that brings everything together.
At an estate sale in Marin, he stumbles upon an entire Broyhill Brasilia bedroom set, a storied line of furniture first featured at the 1962 World’s Fair in Seattle. Julian knows he has made a great discovery, but has no way to transport the items home. So he calls Gabe, who happens to be nearby, and the two bring the items back together.
“We both shared that moment everyone has at an estate sale when they strike gold that day, and I just felt like it was a partnership that could really work out. We were already great friends with a passion for mid century cars and furniture, so it just made it clear that we could be great business partners as well… [W]ith my love of the hunt, and Gabe’s knowledge of restoration, we could put something really great together.”
And thus, Gabe and Julian decide to launch a side business out of finding and restoring mid-century furniture, and Mid Century Møbler is born.
A nine-drawer dresser (bottom-right) from Broyhill’s Brasilia line, inside the Møbler workshop. Atop it, a nightstand from the same collection. Also pictured, a gentlemen’s chest from American of Martinsville (bottom-left).
The two operate Mid Century Møbler out of a relatively small rental garage just west of Duboce Triangle. The garage was quite full when we stopped by, so we weren’t surprised to learn that they also rent a secondary storage unit for overflow. It’s an arrangement that requires some diligent inventory management, but the trade-offs (and savings) seem to be worth it.
As the name implies, (“Møbler” is Danish for “furniture”), the focus here is mostly on Danish and American pieces from the 1950s and 1960s. Gabe and Julian often look for pieces from well-known designers like Adrian Pearsall, Neils Moller, and Hans Wegner, typically made from teak or walnut. They’re not necessarily seeking items in mint condition, they say — just ones that have potential.
“If it’s a Danish piece and really messed up, we’ll buy it and refinish it,” Julian says. “Teak is really forgiving, so it’s worth it… If it’s an American piece, probably not.”
A buffet from Broyhill’s Sculptra collection (1957-1965). “It catered to a more sophisticated, growing American public, and more modern living,” says Julian. “Those cat eye pulls were actually taken directly from Danish pieces which we’ve come across before.”
They acquire the furniture from a variety of sources. Some pieces are imported directly from Denmark or England, but Gabe and Julian also go on regular hunts at estate sales and flea markets — which, frankly, sound awful. As the guys tell it, pieces can sell in a minute or two, or change hands multiple times over the course of a day, with prices steadily rising.
Together, they lament a teak wall unit they once missed out on because someone pointed them in the wrong direction at an estate sale.
They even tell a tale of one flea market they attended recently, at which a shrewd furniture buyer reserved a booth just so he’d be allowed into the flea market early, thus getting a jump on buying other people’s furniture.
Sounds pretty cutthroat to us. But to Gabe and Julian, it’s just part of the process. “It’s stressful and fun,” Gabe says. (We get the “stressful” part, at least.)
A Danish modern mid-century Folke Ohlsson designed walnut desk for DUX of Sweden.
A typical week’s schedule for the duo goes something like this: work on furniture Thursday through Saturday. List furniture on the website Sunday night. Spend Monday through Wednesday looking for new furniture and tending to other matters, like day jobs and personal lives, while also showing furniture to potential collectors.
And the number of Møbler enthusiasts is steadily rising, thanks to both word of mouth and a couple of recent write-ups in the Chronicle and 7×7.
“It’s strange, a lot of people clipped the articles out and have them saved,” Julian says with amused disbelief.
They’re even getting fans from outside of the Bay Area.
“Recently a couple from Texas saw a room divider and buffet we had [on our website],” Julian recalls. “They called me up. I said, ‘Sure, come take a look.’ They said, ‘We’re in Houston.’ So they had a friend come by.” The friend approved of the piece, and the couple had a mover sent over a few days later to claim the divider and bring it home to Texas.
An “awesome spaced out dining set” from Chromcraft’s Sculpta collection. Manufactured in 1966, and inspired by Vladimir Kagan’s unicorn chair.
Four or five years ago, the scene was completely different, they say. Mid-century pieces were definitely not the rage, and estate sales were boring affairs where the style of furniture Mid Century Møbler carries often wouldn’t sell at all.
So what changed?
Gabe and Julian sum it up in two words: “Mad Men.”
“People have fallen back in love with the ’60s,” Julian notes, and he attributes a large part of that to the hit TV show.
But such nostalgia waves are pretty common, he says. “In the ’80s, it happened to the ’50s. Think of ‘Back to the Future,’ and how diners were suddenly big.” It’s unsurprising, then, that the 1960s are once again fashionable, and that furniture from the era is in high demand.
“In the ’80s, no one wanted Danish Modern furniture. It wasn’t old enough to be vintage, it was just passé,” Gabe says. “Then in the ’90s, Dwell Magazine came along, and suddenly Danish Modern started becoming a look.”
But there’s something else at play too, they think.
“In the last three years maybe, there’s been a change in mentality. There’s a search for authenticity. [People are] thinking, ‘let’s stop eating fast food.’ They’re tired of corporate mass-produced culture,” Julian says. “And so now they’re seeing furniture as more of an investment.”
Gabe agrees, adding, “People don’t want a reproduction piece.” And then the two kind of give each other a knowing look. They’re reluctant to bad-mouth anybody specifically, but a couple of offenders are named — and they rhyme with Brate and Carrel and Whykea.
A Danish modern mid-century teak credenza.
So are Gabe and Julian worried that the mid-century craze will fade away, as other trends have before them?
Not exactly.
Because as they describe it, it’s that desire for authenticity, for thoughtful, original, design, that’s fueling the current demand. And they don’t see that desire disappearing any time soon.
“It’s a look,” Gabe says of mid-century modern design. “It’s here to stay.”
We sure hope so, guys.
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Thanks to Gabe and Julian for sharing their story with Haighteration! For more information, visit midcenturymobler.com. And if there’s anyone in the neighborhood who you’d like to see profiled on Haighteration, let us know — tips [at] haighteration {{dot}} com!