In 1973, American Seating asked Acton to research the furniture needs of the burgeoning college market. “Colleges were upgrading to a more human level,” Acton recalled. “They didn’t want straight-backed chairs, they wanted chairs to think in.” This dovetailed nicely with a design already forming on his drawing table; it became the Acton Stacker, introduced in 1975, with its distinctive Z profile that forms the arms and the legs with a single steel tube. A huge success, the chair is still in production.

Over two decades, starting in 1969, Acton transformed the family’s 1940s Colonial-style farmhouse into a sprawling contemporary clad in brick, cedar and glass. His furniture plays a prominent role in every room, joining pieces by Charles and Ray Eames, Harry Bertoia and Warren Platner. Outside, set into the brickwork above the front door, is a hand-hammered copper panel, one of several Acton made for his home; his totem-like sculptures dot the hilly property. The sculptures occasionally appear at modernism shows, and, inspired by his daughter, Tana, a Santa Fe-based jewelry designer, he has also introduced lines of jewelry in crumpled copper, crumpled silver and silver wire.

Interestingly, Acton, the modernist, has always looked to the ideas of Aristotle, which he studied as an undergraduate, to guide his work. “There is a form that everyone can participate in,” he explained. “There is such a thing as ‘chairness.’ I am constantly trying to eliminate the superfluous, but at the same time define the purpose of an object.” 

Dan Obermaier is a freelance writer. He and his wife, Jill, a photography teacher, have collected and studied midcentury modern design for more than 20 years. Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80  |  Page 81  |  Page 82  |  Page 83  |  Page 84  |  Page 85  |  Page 86  |  Page 87  |  Page 88  |  Page 89  |  Page 90  |  Page 91  |  Page 92  |  Page 93  |  Page 94  |  Page 95  |  Page 96  |  Page 97  |  Page 98  |  Page 99  |  Page 100  |  Page 101  |  Page 102  |  Page 103  |  Page 104  |  Page 105  |  Page 106  |  Page 107  |  Page 108  |  Page 109  |  Page 110  |  Page 111  |  Page 112  |  Page 113  |  Page 114  |  Page 115  |  Page 116  |  Page 117