Storied factories were shuttered, and hundreds of skilled artisans and craftsmen were furloughed with production moving production to Asia. Area furniture plant closings and the elimination of jobs had been a recurring theme over the past two decades. Revitalizing old factories is good for the community and the country. We create jobs and with expanded capacity and shorten lead-times for our dealers and their customers.” In fact, many of our best artisans and craftsmen currently make the 30-mile trip to our Conover headquarters every day and are thrilled at the prospect of not having to commute as far. When asked why the plant in Morganton was selected, Bray replied, “The local community has hundreds of generational craftsmen with sawdust in their blood. The building is on one level, has high ceilings and will allow Vanguard to efficiently warehouse materials and ship finished furniture.” The 163,000 square foot factory will be restored, refurbished, and equipped with state-of-the-art equipment.īray said, “This plant has a rich history and an ideal footprint for making custom furniture. It’s pretty interesting seeing the different pieces, the fabrics and suggested layouts.Andy Bray, President of Vanguard Furniture, announced that Vanguard has acquired what was locally known as Drexel Plant #60 in Morganton, NC. For posterity (and because Pam over at Retro Renovation archives these too, which I will send her way) I went ahead and scanned the entire catalog.
One of the things that I did keep was the original Perennian catalog from 1962. I very, very rarely see Perennian furniture out in the wild – but interestingly, Tricia over at Modchester (in her fancy Rochester mid-century house) inherited a beautiful group of Perennian furniture from the original owners of her place. Ultimately, we kept one of the end tables, and Grandma wanted the others for her new apartment after moving out. The living room also has several Perennian pieces as well – a three-part coffee table set and two end tables. In the end, my aunt took the dining room set to a new house she bought, so this problem went away on it’s own, fortunately. Interestingly, the fact that this furniture wasn’t worth “a lot” became a point of contention – my grandmother and aunt insisted they were worth more than an appraiser said. Much nicer and higher quality than vintage Acclaim and Broyhill Brasilia, for instance. It’s also very nice, sturdy, high quality, mostly solid wood furniture, which is typical of Heritage.
In spite of the subdued looks, it is very mid-century. Perennian furniture represented a bridge between very contemporary mid-century furniture designs from makers like Knoll (who produced Eames, Saarien, Noguchi and others) and the more traditional furniture that Heritage had been known for previously (and is known for today.) The furniture featured subdued but modern lines and made extensive use of woods such as walnut, pecan, and wormy chestnut. Perennian isn’t a very “hot” vintage mid-century item, precisely because it wasn’t very avant-garde for its time and therefore stand out as must-have mid-century for collectors today. Heritage today is known as Drexel Heritage (a combination made in the late 1950s, though for a time they were still marketed separately.) In the living room and dining room spaces, they purchased higher end Heritage furniture, from a collection called Perennian. They shied away from “traditional” furniture and lines. My grandparents were no slouches when it came to purchasing durable goods for the house – they saved up and purchased things that were nice, and generally contemporary for their time.