Serpentine Parade house

Kurzer designed a new lounge and dining space, which was fully furnished with custom-made furniture and cabinetry produced by Paul Kafka. Viennese-born craftsman and furniture manufacturer, Paul Kafka, had a well-established business, P E Kafka Exclusive Furniture Pty Ltd, with a clientele ranging from private home owners and architects and interior decorators to corporations. Many of his clients were, like Kafka, Jewish refugees from war-torn Europe.

Apart from their common European heritage what attracted many to Kafka’s work was its stylishness and fine craftsmanship, qualities that were part of a strong tradition in European cabinet-making. The furniture, probably designed by Kurzer and then manufactured at Kafka’s workshop, features asymmetrical designs and demonstrates the blending of European Art Deco style and the inter-war modernist aesthetic. The use of light coloured woods, patterned veneers, mirror backing, glass and chrome was also typical, shown in the Serpentine Parade dining suite crafted in Queensland Yellow Sycamore and burr walnut wood veneers. The Kurzer-Kafka interiors remained intact until 1991 when the house was refurbished. The furniture was later auctioned and The Historic Houses Trust acquired one of the 12 trapezoidal-back dining chairs, upholstered in 1950s green metallic threaded fabric known as ‘Lurex’.

Photographer: Louise Lister

Date Photographed: 1991 Original image format: transparency film: 6x6cms

Copyright: Caroline Simpson Library & Research Collection, Photograph © Louise Lister

Further Reading: Our Home: Emoh Ruo, Reflections on the Way We Live, Historic Houses Trust of NSW, 1995.

Anne Watson “Kafka and Kalmar” in The Furniture History Society Australasia Journal, no.2 2004, pp.10-13.