Space-Age my Pad

July 23, 2007 8:34 AM

Looking for the name of this 60's - 70's interior design item: a floor-to-ceiling, metal, ornamental screen.

I just bought a sweet little 1964 brick ranch, and I'm looking for a period-correct furnishing, but I don't know what it's called or where to start looking! Popular in the 60's and 70's, the item in question is a kind of fixed ornamental screen that goes from floor to ceiling inside a doorway (especially in an alcove, entryway, vestibule, etc). The ones I've seen have been made out of metal (wrought iron or brass), and consist of circular or other geometric patterns. Sometimes these things incorporate some sort of planter at the base. The only place I've seen one recently is in the living room of the Venture Brothers compound, but I think that some really cool ones were also visible in Wong Kar-Wai's In the Mood For Love and/or 2046.

For a couple of examples of what I'm talking about, see here, or here.

If you know what to call these things for googling/ebay findability, let me know - and if you know where I can actually find one, even better!

posted by sluggo to Home & Garden (4 answers total)

I've always called them room dividers. Though a quick Google brings up more of the free-standing versions, rather than fixed versions. Don't know if there is any more "design-y" name for them.
For that hip, 60's look, you'll need a couple of pole lamps, too. My folks ha d a couple of sweet ones back in the day.
posted by Thorzdad at 9:38 AM on July 23, 2007

Call your local wrought iron workshop. They'll do anything custom you like and usually aren't too expensive. Architects and designers use them often. It probably won't help you with your first example, but your second example is easily duplicated.
posted by kuujjuarapik at 9:56 AM on July 23, 2007

The coolest one I ever saw was in the front entryway of an elementary school friend's house ('60s ranch, 'cause everything around where I grew up was a '50s- or '60s-era ranch). Immediately adjacent to the front door was a translucent glass panel that appeared to be made of the bottoms of glass bottles, and immediately perpendicular to that was a divider made of the same pattern of glass. I always thought it was beautiful.
posted by limeonaire at 10:03 AM on July 23, 2007

In California I see them afixed to the outside of the 60s apartment buildings known as dingbats. Sometimes ivy or another plant is trained to grow on/in them, so maybe you might find something looking under "trellis."
posted by Rash at 10:55 AM on July 23, 2007