Charles Stendig

Charles W. Stendig is an American businessman. He founded Stendig, Inc, which imported furniture from Finland, Czechoslovakia, Italy, and Switzerland between 1954 and 1976. He developed the American market for modern European furniture.

Stendig was born in New Lots, Brooklyn. He was the only child of an electrician and a homemaker. He served as a paratrooper during World War II. He studied business at New York University and the City College of New York, with an emphasis on international trade. Stendig then worked for Raymor, a distribution company that focused on modern china, glass, and accessories, and was best known for selling Russel Wright's popular "American Modern" line. Stendig focused on Raymor's less popular imported pieces from Scandinavia and Italy. Stendig left Raymor after two years to begin his own business.

In 1955, Stendig connected with Finnish furniture company Asko, who invited him to Lahti, Finland, to work with the company's designers on developing marketable furniture to be imported for the American market.

His first showroom was in midtown Manhattan, which opened in 1956 with a $300 loan from Paul Secon, founder of Pottery Barn. Stendig's wife Eleanore became the head of operations.

En route from Finland to Czechoslovakia, Stendig stopped over in Zürich, where he found a shop with Bauhaus-style chrome-and-leather furniture by three Swiss designers—Hans Eichenberger, Kurt Thut, and Robert Haussmann—the last of whom owned and ran the shop with his brother. Its local furniture was sold only in Switzerland. Stendig became their exclusive U.S. importer, expanding to include De Sede's offerings.

Stendig negotiated a formal invitation to travel to Czechoslovakia, where Thonet's factory was located. This trip yielded the exclusive right to import model no. B9 armchair, designed by Le Corbusier, and the model no. 811 side chair, often attributed to Josef Hoffmann. He agreed to guarantee the cost of U.S. production for a year, which ultimately contributed to widespread appreciation of both designs in the American market.

In 1960, Stendig met Dino Gavina at a design conference in Zürich. Through Gavina, Stendig gained access to Italian manufacturers. He represented Poltronova, which produced designs by Archizoom; Gae Aulenti, Ettore Sottsass, Superstudio, and Massimo and Lella Vignelli. He also represented Jonathan De Pas, Donato D'Urbino and Paolo Lomazzi. A meeting between Dino Gavina and Marcel Breuer, accompanied by Mitchell Wolfson culminated in a deal to reproduce the "Wassily" Club Chair, closed via Gavina's offer of a cash-filled suitcase. Gavina gave Stendig exclusive distribution of the chair and two other Breuer chairs.

Gavina's company was acquired by Knoll in 1968 and Stendig lost his exclusivity. He then discovered Gufram and began importing the pop designs of Guido Drocco and Franco Mello and Studio 65, icons of the Anti-Design movement in Italy.

Other individual designers represented included Eero Aarnio, Jussi Peippo, Ilmari Lappalainen, Tapio Wirkkala, and Ilmari Tapiovaara.

By the late 1960s, Stendig's Manhattan operation had expanded to include showrooms in Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco. Burlington Industries acquired Stendig in 1971. He ran the business for five years before retiring in 1976.