Maia Smilow Schoenfelder

design buffs had largely forgotten the late American midcentury modern furniture designer Mel Smilow. But in 2013, his daughter, Judy Smilow, reissued 10 of his shapely, wood-framed greatest hits under the name Smilow Design. Since then, interest in the unsung champion of affordable, American-made furniture—who designed, manufactured, and sold his line in Smilow-Thielle stores on the East Coast from 1949 through the late 1970s—has been building. In August, Judy died after a two-year battle with ALS. But Smilow Design, now helmed by her 27-year-old daughter, Maia Smilow