Mid-Century Birch Sideboard with Sliding Doors by Bakker & Steyger, South Africa 1950s
A broad, flame-figured birch top runs the length of this sideboard, the case lifted clear of the floor on four sharply tapered splayed legs. Two sliding doors conceal a shelved interior, with three drawers below, all fitted with the original brass knobs. The left drawer retains its felt-lined cutlery divider in original green baize — a small domestic luxury of the period. Pale, honey-toned and unusually light for its date, it reads very differently from the teak and imbuia of the same years.
Shallow in depth and generous in height, it suits a passage or entrance hall as readily as a dining room, where the top sits at a comfortable serving height.
Bakker & Steyger
A South African furniture maker whose mid-century work has quietly earned a devoted following. Active through the 1950s and 1960s, the firm produced honest, well-crafted pieces in solid indigenous and imported timbers, from dining sets and sideboards to occasional tables. Sound joinery and a warmth of finish run through the range, though the lightest of their cabinet pieces — like this one — stand squarely in the modern idiom, and are among the finest examples of South Africa's own mid-century story.
