Pin Partner: Neal Kielar, MidModMen

The smell is the first thing you notice when walk through the door to MidModMen’s St. Paul store – or, rather, the lack of it. Despite housing more than 50 pieces of mid-century modern furniture at any time, Neal Kielar’s 1,000-square-foot store doesn’t smell like a musty, old house.

"We’re more uptight,” Kielar said. “We want our store to offer things we want in our house as well.”

For Kielar and his team of mid-century modern aficionados, that means vintage furniture minus the vintage smell.

The Skinny:

• Fun Fact: Neal Kielar and his partner are still searching for their “holy grail:" a coffee table from the Lane Acclaim line of furniture that pivots open to look like a boomerang.
• MidModMen
• 2401 University Ave.
  St. Paul, MN 55114
• 612-234-1201
• midmodmen.com
• MidModMen@gmail.com

MidModMen got its start when Kielar and his partner Jon moved to their current home. They realized some of the furniture from their old house didn’t fit in their new one.

“We decided to start selling some of our extra furniture and going out [to scout] things to buy to replace items,” Kielar said. Along the way, “You find things you aren’t looking for, but [are] too good to leave behind," he said.

Their collection of furniture and home décor grew, and in 2011 Kielar leased a space for three months to run a pop-up store selling his mid-century modern finds. After a month, he decided to keep the store open for good.

Despite holding nine-to-five jobs, Kielar’s team manages to keep their store, basement and storage unit full of treasures they’ve restored and refinished. This week, he shares some of the group’s mid-century modern finds from the most unlikely of locations. To those who assume great, modern pieces can’t be found in the Midwest, Kielar says think again.

“There’s an abundance of this type of furniture in the most unexpected places.”

Pin #1: “When you're in the vintage business, there are few environments you won't brave for a great find. These vintage school chairs were languishing in an extremely mildewy basement in Crosby, Minn. We assume they were, in all their modernist glory, from a local schoolhouse now long gone. But the chairs were sturdy and just needed a good cleaning to defeat the mildew.” –Neal Kielar

Pin #2: “Within an hour of opening our store for the very first time, a pickup truck pulled up outside and the driver offered to sell us this gondola-shaped lamp with an amazing Fiberglass lampshade. We don't even know how they knew we were open but we were happy to have this unusual piece on display.” –Neal Kielar

Pin #3: “Starburst clocks are the holy grail of mid-century accessories for many aficionados. So eager (desperate?!) were we to satisfy the needs of customers that I tracked this Lux clock, with a 26-inch span, all the way to rural central Illinois.” –Neal Kielar

 Pin #4: “Every year the tiny village of Oronoco, Minn. holds a flea market that engulfs the entire community and attracts thousands of vintage shoppers. That's where we discovered the magic of Viking art glass. Viking was a West Virginia-based maker of decorative glass that seems to have been popular in the Midwest. These three freeform pieces in vibrant colors are typical. We can't seem to keep the orange glass in stock!” –Neal Kielar

Pin #5: “This Southern California-designed furniture line has an almost International Style architectural design. That wasn't enough to keep this piece out of a Twin Cities thrift shop, abandoned and left in poor shape. We fully restored it, and it was one of the fastest sales we ever had.” –Neal Kielar

Pin #6: “Before there was central air conditioning, there were electric fans. With this all-steel, 1950s 'Zero' brand fan, being cool seems to have been as important as getting cool. That's to say, the sleek design elevated this common appliance to an object of desire. Found in rural Minnesota.” –Neal Kielar

Pin #7: “There was a period in mid-century design that gave itself over to walnut lamps in organic and exotic shapes with dramatic barrel lampshades. This is a particularly large specimen coming in it about 44 inches with the shade. (And it's currently available.)” –Neal Kielar