The Complete Kagan is the first complete compendium of Kagan's life and work, and includes dozens of never-before-published photographs and sketches.
Preface by Tom Ford.
List Price: $65.00
275 pages
Over 400 illustrations
Published October 2004
ISBN: 0-9727661-2-X
Pointed Leaf Press
Vladimir Kagan is one of our most enduring designers of modern furniture with a career that has spanned over sixty years. He started designing in 1946 and by the early fifties, his innovative sculptured designs created a new look in American furniture. Today, his sparkling creations are on the cutting edge of the 21st century. His designs are spearheading creative designs for hotels, furniture, textiles and home furnishings. The New York Times says: "Vladimir Kagan is one of the most important furniture designers of the 20th century. Furniture designed by him in the forties, fifties and sixties have become icons of Modernity and an obligatory reference to every designer. He is the creative grandfather of a whole new generation of designers."
Born in Worms on the Rhine, Germany in 1927, Vladimir Kagan came to the United States in 1938. His earliest focus was on painting and sculpture but in his formative years he became exceedingly attracted to architecture and design. He studied Architecture at Columbia University and in 1947 joined his father, Illi Kagan, a master cabinetmaker, to work in his woodworking shop and learn furniture making from the ground up.
Early commissions included the Delegate's Cocktail Lounges for the first United Nations Headquarters in Lake Success N.Y. (1947-48). In 1948 he opened his first shop in New York on East 65th Street and moved to fashionable 57th Street in 1950. His clients are luminaries in the world of art, theater, music and industry.
Connoisseurs and museums are avidly collecting his designs today. Kagan's furniture is in private collections worldwide. His prize-winning designs have been published in books and magazines internationally and are in the permanent collections of the V&A London, the Vitra Design Museum and Die Neue Samlung in Germany as well as in the most prominent museums in the United States.
Chronology
2009 - In March, Ralph Pucci launched Vladimir Kagan’s "Lost Masterpieces", a collection of ten vintage pieces available exclusively through his showrooms in New York and Los Angeles.
2008 - In April, Vladimir Kagan launched his newest venture, The Vladimir Kagan Couture Collection, a showroom to Designers and Architects at 200 Lexington Avenue, New York. The collection is an amalgamation of his designs from the 50s to the 21st century, custom manufactured in the United States. The showroom will feature exclusive fabrics and leathers, art exhibits and vintage Kagan furniture.
Vladimir Kagan's Capricorn Collection (1958) made in powder coated stainless steel for indoor and outdoor use, was re-introduced by New York based Delgreco and Company.
2007 - Mr. Kagan designs a prize-winning collection of outdoor woven resin wicker furniture for Barlow Tyrie Ltd of London.
2005 - Vladimir Kagan designs a twelve story residential building in No-Ho New York, corner of The Bowery and Great Jones Street, scheduled for completion in 2009.
2004 - Vladimir Kagan writes his autobiography: The Complete Kagan (Pointed Leaf Press) with an introduction written by Tom Ford.
2003 - Vladimir Kagan re-introduced his Classic Collection, at Ralph Pucci International showrooms in New York and Los Angeles. The Classic Collection is a limited edition of authentic recreations of Mr. Kagan's original designs custom made in the United States.
2001 - Tom Ford selects the Kagan Omnibus seating designs for all 360 Gucci stores.
Armani selects Kagan Cubist Dining chairs and Banquets for his new Nobu Restaurant in Milan.
Andre Balasz selects Vladimir Kagan to design the lobby of The Standard Hotel Downtown in Los Angeles.
Corporate enterprises from BMW to LVMH, Helena Rubenstein, NBC television and many more, specified Kagan furniture for their corporate headquarters, exhibits and events.
2000 - Vladimir Kagan enters into his first international licensing agreement with Club House Italia to create The Kagan New York Collection, sold through out the World.
