Photo:  Tony Paul sitting on a chair of his design from the Ice Cream Parlor Collection. Photo courtesy of Lori of Tony Paul Designs.com.

  Researching good mid-century modern design and its creatives adds another dimension to our great collecting passion. It is always a great day when you can learn more about a mid-century designer that has been off your radar. This brief story is about Tony Paul and a website dedicated to his memory and design genius: TonyPaulDesigns.

  I probably first learned about Tony Paul while researching the amazingly diverse modern product issued under the name Raymor, tag name for distributor, Richards Morgenthau (RM). A huge new advertising campaign was launched by RM around 1954 that was spearheaded by the slogan Modern in the Tradition of Good Taste. This clever, catchy phrase was undoubtedly crafted to appeal to a large cross-over audience. More than 3000 modern home furnishings were brought together under the Raymor label that first year. Designers like Ben Seibel, Richard Galef, and Tony Paul--to mention a few--found a larger audience through these ads in House Beautiful, House & Garden, & Living for Young Homemakers. (Giftwares, 1954)