Used Teknion Furniture
2010s North American Modern Used Teknion Furniture
Fabric
Late 20th Century Modern Used Teknion Furniture
Plastic
21st Century and Contemporary Canadian Modern Used Teknion Furniture
Fabric
Late 20th Century North American Modern Used Teknion Furniture
Plastic
2010s American Modern Used Teknion Furniture
Leather, Wood, Feathers
2010s American Modern Used Teknion Furniture
Aluminum, Chrome
20th Century Italian Used Teknion Furniture
Steel, Nickel
People Also Browsed
20th Century American Bohemian Used Teknion Furniture
Upholstery, Fabric
20th Century American Art Deco Used Teknion Furniture
Fabric
21st Century and Contemporary Portuguese Modern Used Teknion Furniture
Fabric, Velvet, Lacquer, Wood
2010s British Scandinavian Modern Used Teknion Furniture
Mohair, Velvet, Oak
1970s American Mid-Century Modern Used Teknion Furniture
Walnut
Mid-20th Century Swedish Mid-Century Modern Used Teknion Furniture
Upholstery, Walnut
1960s Swedish Scandinavian Modern Used Teknion Furniture
Fabric, Teak
1960s American Mid-Century Modern Used Teknion Furniture
Aluminum
1960s American Hollywood Regency Used Teknion Furniture
Brass
1950s Italian Mid-Century Modern Used Teknion Furniture
Metal
Mid-20th Century Swedish Used Teknion Furniture
Upholstery, Wood
1980s Danish Used Teknion Furniture
1960s Used Teknion Furniture
Metal
21st Century and Contemporary European Modern Used Teknion Furniture
Aluminum
1960s Swedish Mid-Century Modern Used Teknion Furniture
Upholstery, Teak
20th Century American Art Deco Used Teknion Furniture
Fabric
A Close Look at modern Furniture
The late 19th and early 20th centuries saw sweeping social change and major scientific advances — both of which contributed to a new aesthetic: modernism. Rejecting the rigidity of Victorian artistic conventions, modernists sought a new means of expression. References to the natural world and ornate classical embellishments gave way to the sleek simplicity of the Machine Age. Architect Philip Johnson characterized the hallmarks of modernism as “machine-like simplicity, smoothness or surface [and] avoidance of ornament.”
Early practitioners of modernist design include the De Stijl (“The Style”) group, founded in the Netherlands in 1917, and the Bauhaus School, founded two years later in Germany.
Followers of both groups produced sleek, spare designs — many of which became icons of daily life in the 20th century. The modernists rejected both natural and historical references and relied primarily on industrial materials such as metal, glass, plywood, and, later, plastics. While Bauhaus principals Marcel Breuer and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe created furniture from mass-produced, chrome-plated steel, American visionaries like Charles and Ray Eames worked in materials as novel as molded plywood and fiberglass. Today, Breuer’s Wassily chair, Mies van der Rohe’s Barcelona chair — crafted with his romantic partner, designer Lilly Reich — and the Eames lounge chair are emblems of progressive design and vintage originals are prized cornerstones of collections.
It’s difficult to overstate the influence that modernism continues to wield over designers and architects — and equally difficult to overstate how revolutionary it was when it first appeared a century ago. But because modernist furniture designs are so simple, they can blend in seamlessly with just about any type of décor. Don’t overlook them.