The second issue of the new online magazine MidCentury Folio is up with stories about Louis Kahn; Columbia Ave.'s Mid-Century Furniture Warehouse (which "maintains as low a profile as a meth lab"); the history of bakelite; Le Corbusier (who someone on Philly Speaks once referred to as "the Pol Pot of architecture"); and the days of Elvis and pu-pu platters. The magazine is written and edited by Tally Caldwell and Stacia Friedman.
We asked Friedman what drew her to this project. "My love of mid-century design is like waking up one day and realizing that the guy you dumped in high school really is The One," she says. "I grew up with Herman Miller and Knoll furniture but didn't appreciate it at the time. But a few years ago, when showrooms featured bulky, oversized furniture to go with McMansions, the slim elegance of mid-century design started looking good again."
Friedman thinks Mad Men has had something to do with a renewed cultural interest in mid-century modern. "Realtors are advertising houses as mid-century in reponse to demand. Suddenly, ’50s split levels aren't boring. They're cool. You can imagine Don Draper living there."
In Friedman's honor, we attempted to Mad Men-ify her, but after a solid half-hour of choosing noses and accessories, the application crashed. It's all to the good. They didn't have bakelite bangles anyway.