Casara Modern Furniture
After searching yard sales and thrift shops for Mid Century Modern finds to resell, a Californian creates a furniture company for his clamoring customer base.
CASARA MODERN BEGAN WITH a daughter- and- father duo scouring yard sales and estate sales for Mid Century Modern pieces. “Originally, we were hunting for pieces to furnish our own house,” says Henry Jara, the founder of the California- based furniture company. “Both of us love the style.” However, some of their acquisitions needed a little TLC. Since Henry has a woodworking background ( he ran a business in the early ’ 90s making garden furniture and decorations), he was up to the task. “Using my prior experience and some experimenting, I found what products worked best to bring back that luster into some of the less- loved pieces that we found,” he says. History came back to life as he and Alexandra restored their finds.
Eventually Henry and Alexandra noticed the design trends leaning back toward Mid Century Modern style— along with a huge demographic clamoring for era- accurate furniture. “We saw the increase in interest, so we started hunting down more furniture and were even waiting overnight at some of the prime estate sales,” Henry says. Together, they re finished and sold the vintage piece sat local fl ea markets and consignment stores around Orange County and Los Angeles. When the demand outpaced their
inventory, Henry decided to pivot. “I started looking at some of my favorite designers for inspiration and started making my own furniture,” he says. “Everything took off from there, and now we are shipping furniture orders all over the country.”
Casara Modern’s designs capture everything Henry— and MCM afi cionados— love about the category: sleek clean lines and shapes that do not consume the whole room, which is a departure from the furniture you fi nd at bigbox stores. “While being a focal point, our furniture also makes the room feel more open and spacious,” Henry says. “The look is timeless, and I draw from that era in everything that I make.”
Just like his Mid Century Modern predecessors, Henry uses solid wood to make strong furniture that lasts a lifetime. The designs are very modular, and you can rearrange them into a different layout if you want to change things around or redesign your living space. He says, “One thing that I take into consideration is using multiple pieces together in different layouts. I have customers come back and order more pieces to add to their layout later as well.”
With their quality and beauty, Casara Modern pieces are heirlooms in the making and Henry takes pride in knowing he’s adding to the proud lineage of Mid Century Modern style.
The past is a guiding voice in Henry’ s designs, and he finds inspiration in a range of MCM icons.
•“Quality is one of the cornerstone soft he Mid Century Modern philosophy ,” Henry says .“You can’t find our level of craftsmanship at a big-box store.”
• Hans Wegner, George Nakashima, Milo Baughman and Finn Juhl innovative ly used wood in their designs, and Henry finds inspiration in many of their uses, from joinery, to bringing fabric and wood together, to displaying the beauty of wood grains in the designs.
• Combining wood and metal is something Henry is currently developing, and he finds inspiration in Paul McCobb, who did this to create simple, elegant designs.