Thomas C. Molesworth (1890–1977) was an American furniture designer who helped pioneer the use of cowhide, horn, and natural wood to produce a distinctly Western style of furniture and accessories. Molesworth’s style was influenced by the Arts and Crafts Movement and the vernacular design elements of ranches and farms in western America. The “cowboy furniture” style is said to have been popularised by him. From 1931 through 1961, Molesworth and his wife, LaVerne Johnston Molesworth, ran the Shoshone Furniture Company in Cody, Wyoming, to construct his designs.

Selection of Molesworth furniture on native american rugs
Selection of Molesworth furniture on native American rugs

The Western Look

Molesworth ranch style furniture has inspired contemporary Western furniture designers such as Jim Covert, Jeff Morris and Marc Tagesger with its large brass pads, Native American motifs and wildfire imagery.

Education

Molesworth had studied at Chicago’s Art Institute, but art was not just about his path to becoming a tastemaker. During World War I, he served as a Marine, worked as a banker for five years, and the next seven, he owned a furniture store in Billings, Mont. To sell others’ designs, he moved his family to Cody, Wyo., to open Shoshone Furniture Co in 1931. It was named after the Native-American tribe, in Cody, Wyoming. Cody, the town founded in 1901 by Col. William F. (‘Buffalo Bill’) Cody to market the ‘Wild West’ to tourists. Molesworth did not invent the Western look in the USA but instead perfected it. 

Molesworth furniture

Molesworth’s furniture for the TE Ranch building, initially for Cody, was exemplified in an easy chair with Chimayo-weave cushions and moose-antler ‘wings.’ In the 1930s-1950s America, his furniture flourished in hotel lobbies, dude ranches, and private houses, including a Wyoming ranch for Moses Annenberg and a den for President Dwight D·. Eisenhower in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Like Frank Lloyd Wright and Gustav Stickley, Molesworth saw furniture to create a unified architectural mood.

  • Thomas Molesworth Club Chair
  • Thomas Molesworth wastepaper box

Primitivism with modern lines

Although his designs were meant to suggest primitivism, they had Modern lines. Molesworth used honey-coloured woods, fir and pine buds, and pastel leather upholstery trimmed in brass tacks, to reflect the American West’s romantic image purveyed by 1930s Hollywood movies. His most complete architectural unit showed bucking broncos in linoleum, a wrought-iron and steel ashtray in a burro design with removable receptacles in its saddlebags, chairs with pierced bow-legged cowboy forms, and rope trim. He catered to a monied clientele; collecting friends’ work, he had an extensive art collection. 

Reading List

Thomas Molesworth in our partner stores

Sources

Byars, M., & Riley, T. (2004). The design encyclopedia. Laurence King Publishing.

Yoshihara, N. (2006, Jan 19). MIXED MEDIA; blazing a western technique; Molesworth, the pioneer of western design Terry Winchell Gibbs Smith; $60: [HOME EDITION]. Los Angeles Times Retrieved from https://ezproxy.csu.edu.au/login?url=https://www-proquest-com.ezproxy.csu.edu.au/newspapers/mixed-media-blazing-western-technique-molesworth/docview/422027136/se-2?accountid=10344

You may be interested in

Walter Crane (1845 – 1915) British designer, artist and writer

Walter Crane (1845 – 1915) was a British designer, artist and writer. He was the son of portrait painter Thomas Crane and was born in Liverpool. He designed textiles, stained glass, wallpaper, and ceramics as a strong proponent of the Arts and Crafts Movement.

Thomas Lamb – Industrial Designer – “The Handle Man”

Thomas Babbit Lamb (1896-1988) was an industrial designer in the United States. His revolutionary handle designs, which are based on the mechanics of the human hand, are his most well-known works. Lamb was born on September 18, 1896, in New York City.

Dakota Jackson (1950 – ) American furniture designer – Encyclopedia of Design

Dakota Jackson is an American furniture designer best known for his Dakota Jackson furniture line. He was a magician’s son, and by the time he was six, he became a professional magician. He performed in public until his early 20s.

Don Albinson (1921- 2008) – American furniture designer – Encyclopedia of Design

Don Albinson (1921 -2008) was an American Furniture Designer. He studied in Sweden, Cranbrook Academy of Art, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, and Yale University. He took Charles Eames’ industrial and product design courses at Cranbrook. In 1946, he joined the Eames Office and worked on the moulded plywood series of chairs designed by Charles and Ray Eames.

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.