desk and office accessories home | history | catalog | contact us | resources | links | sitemap | rep locator
product lines: smith metal arts | mcdonald products | architectural accessories | custom products
Smith McDonald Corporation - History
Timeless Yet Classic...
The Smith McDonald website you are visiting contains a diverse assortment
of desk, office and conference accessory collections - the majority of
which were developed by two of the Contract Furniture Industry's most
prolific and longest established manufacturers - Smith Metal Arts, and
McDonald Products. With roots back to the late 1800's, we proudly remain
the preeminent manufacturer of desk and office accessories to this day,
offering the greatest selection of quality desk and office accessories
available, as well as a history rich with firsts and innovations.
Smith Metal Arts was founded in Buffalo, NY in 1889 by German immigrant
and metal and leather goods craftsman Otto Heintz, as the Heintz Art Metal
Company, who began as a manufacturer of desk blotters, pen and letter
holders, envelope sealers and ink blotters, and later developed the first "lay-flat" page type of desktop calendar base. Following Heintz's
death in 1919, the company was purchased by Frederick Smith, their top
salesman, and through collaboration with jewelry designer, Peter Muller-Munk,
eventually evolved into the manufacture of "designer" lines
of desk and office accessories and accoutrements. In fact, many Smith
Metal Arts products in an Art Deco motif or with the SMA Silver Crest
remain collector's items today. A later collaboration with Skidmore, Owings
and Merrill led to the design of a line of accessories known simply as
the "202" series. This series became the de-facto standard architectural
and design specification for almost every contemporary office in the United
States, and remains on permanent display at the Museum of Modern Art in
New York City. In more recent years, our collaboration with noted designer
William Sklaroff has resulted in the development of many of the beautiful
accessory collections which continue to remain a popular and integral
part of our product line today.
McDonald Products was also founded in Buffalo, NY, in 1930, by metalworker
Edward McDonald, upon his purchase of the Serv-A-Light Co., a developer
of smoker stands with attached battery-operated cigar lighters. With his
background in metalworking, he led the company in their development of
a wide variety of ornamental smoking stands, pipe racks, ashtrays, floor
stands, and a silent butler, which they marketed and sold primarily to
gift shops. In 1934, Mr. McDonald put a small duck finger lever on top
of his scissor-action ashtray, thus giving birth to what became one of
the company's most well-known products, the Duk-It ashtray.In fact, the
Duck icon, which originated from that specific group of products, eventually
became the symbol for McDonald Products, and remains an integral part
of our logo to this day. Despite the success and enduring popularity of
the Duk-It ashtray however, honors for arguably the most well-known product
that McDonald Products has ever offered fall to the Bean Bag Ashtray,
which at one time, was sold at the rate of over one million units per
year. Upon the sale of the company in 1961 to Adrian Bennett, the company
shifted its focus from gift shops - which tended to be somewhat seasonal
- to a more office-oriented product line. This shift in focus led to McDonald
Products developing their own assortment of Metal and Plastic desk accessory
lines; in fact, Smith Metal Arts and McDonald Products were fierce competitors
for many years. Over the next several years, ownership of McDonald Products
changed hands several times, including a short stint as a wholly owned
subsidiary of the Insilco Corporation, a Fortune 500 firm then headquartered
in Meriden, CT. In 1982, a group of McDonald Products executives acquired
the company back from Insilco in a leveraged buyout, and finally in 1986,
controlling interest was acquired by Smith Metal Arts, eventually leading
to the formation of Smith McDonald Corporation.
As you can see, this comprehensive offering of desk and office accessory collections is the result of many years of designing and manufacturing timeless, yet classic desk and office accessories for the contract furniture market. We are pleased to continue to offer the highest quality in both material and in workmanship, and look forward to being of service to you.
Call us today: 1-800-753-8548 or E-mail us: info@smithmcdonald.com
desk and office accessories home | history | catalog | contact us | resources | terms and conditions | sitemap
Copyright ® 2008 | Smith McDonald Corporation | All Rights Reserved
Smith McDonald Corporation, 1270 Niagara Street, Buffalo, NY 14213
Phone: 1-800-753-8548 or E-mail: info@smithmcdonald.com