“The New Kindel Parlor Bed.” Salesman sample, 1905 - 1915. Mahogany scroll carved sides with unadorned front rail. Secondary woods are oak plywood and poplar. Velvet green upholstery with a diamond pattern. Seat back folds down to form a bed with a brown and white striped cotton mattress. Metal hardware, tacks, screws, and hinges. Handwritten in pencil on the back baseboard are the numbers 47 and 48. The words “Grace Brown” are handwritten in pencil on the piece’s bottom. Donor’s note: “Kindel Parlor Bed. Salesman Traveling Sample. Model made approx. 1910 under the supervision of Charles J. Kindel, President and founder of the Kindel Furniture Co.” Gift of David E. Shuart. Crafted by the Kindel Furniture Company in the 1910s, this salesman’s sample parlor bed is representative of popular American furniture in the early 20th century. Furniture for the middle class was often created to be functional as well as fashionable. Thick upholstery, such as the kind displayed on this piece, was a favorite of furniture makers at the time; the plump cushions made seating comfortable and left an overall impression of grandeur. Despite its impressive exterior, this model folds outward into a simple cotton mattress, revealing the utility hidden under its surface. While this piece was designed to look formal and perhaps even fit into a French-style parlor, it was probably intended for consumption by the middle classes, people who might entertain guests overnight but didn’t have the space for a guest bedroom. Kindel’s parlor bed was not the first fold-out bed, but it was novel in that the folding mechanism didn’t require the user to move the piece away from a wall. The construction of the piece also exemplifies the juxtaposition between fanciful exterior and functional interior. In the late Victorian period, furniture makers began experimenting with new ways to make elegant furniture while cutting costs. One of the methods they devised was to make the inside of a sofa out of cheaper woods, such as oak and poplar, and then finish them with mahogany. The technique was still used when this parlor bed was designed. Its base is made of inexpensive woods, but the sides and front rail are of mahogany. This allowed the furniture to be stylish and sturdy while keeping costs down. It is of course worth noting that this piece is not a full-sized sofa; it is less than twenty inches at its longest. In the busting and optimistic economy of the early 1900s, it was not uncommon for sales representatives to travel to prospective buyers with scale models of their newest products. In this case, the model also showcased the working mechanism of the fold-out mattress. This allowed Kindel’s traveling salesmen to demonstrate the ease working the parlor bed without having to show a full-sized model, which would have been very impractical for the salesman on the go. Kindel Furniture Company was one of the many furniture companies to flourish in Grand Rapids in this time period. While this model was created in Kindel’s first decades, the company is still around today. For more information about and artifacts from Kindel, search Kindel Furniture Company on the Grand Rapids Public Museum Collections website.Annaka Koster, 11/5/2015

My grandfather, Charles Joseph Kindel, founded Kindel Furniture Company. I have a salesman's model of "Kindel Kind" somersault bed. I also have a picture of a salesman holding the model in 1906. I believe that this is the original "hide-a-bed". At least, I have not found evidence of anything older. My grandfather's eldest brother, George John Kindel, had a mattress factory in Denver, Colo. where grandfather worked when he was young.Celia Said, 11/20/2020

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