Postmodern Heron Desk Lamps by Isao Hosoe for Luxo, Norway, 1990s
By Luxo, Isao Hosoe
Located in Antwerp, BE
A set of adjustable “Heron” desk lamps, designed by Isao Hosoe for Luxo, Norway in 1994. The Heron is among Hosoe’s most celebrated designs, merging sculptural elegance with exceptio...
Plastic
Set of 4 Purple Ballerina Chairs by Herbert Ohl for Matteo Grassi, Italy 1990s
By Herbert Ohl, Matteo Grassi
Located in Beograd, RS
In this listing you will find a set of 4 Ballerina Dining Chairs designed by Herbert Ohl for Matteo Grassi. All chairs have manufacturer's stamp on the backrests. The cantilever chai...
Steel
$740Sale Price / set|36% Off
Pair of PS Hässlö outdoor lounge chairs by Monika Mulder for Ikea, 1990s
By IKEA, Monika Mulder
Located in PRAHA 5, CZ
Pair of fantastic postmodern lounge chairs designed by Monika Mulder for Ikea in 1995. The Ikea PS Hässlö chairs designed by Monika Mulder are sleek and modern. They feature a minima...
Steel
Set of Six 1990s 'Iriana' Blown Crystal White Wine Glasses by Christofle, France
By Christofle
Located in North Miami, FL
Set of six 1990s blown crystal white wine glasses from the 'Iriana' collection with box by Christofle, France By: Christofle Material: glass, blown glass, crystal, paper Technique:...
Crystal
A two-part cabinet in rare exotic woods with solid ebony inlays, Italy, 1990s
Located in Chiavari, Liguria
A large two-part cabinet in rare exotic woods with solid ebony inlays. This unique two-part sideboard, crafted by Bottega Costa in the 1990s, is a remarkable example of Ligurian cra...
Ebony, Fruitwood, Rosewood
Rosenthal Eosin Porcelain Vase Trio by Johan van Loon and Helmut Drexler, 1990s
By Rosenthal
Located in Berlin, DE
Curated trio of Rosenthal Studio-Linie porcelain vases pairing Johan van Loon’s folded forms with Helmut Drexler’s satin-iridescent Eosin decoration. The finish shifts between gold,...
Porcelain
Pair of “Totem” Candlesticks by Hilton McConnico for Maison Lanvin – 1990s
By Lanvin Paris, Hilton McConnico
Located in Marinha Grande, PT
Rare pair of “Totem” candlesticks designed by Hilton McConnico and produced by Maison Lanvin circa 1992. Crafted from a striking mix of gilt bronze, painted wood, resin, leather, car...
Brass
1990s Lampada Scultura Ecate Toni Cordero Artemide Design, Limited Edition
By Toni Cordero
Located in Biella, IT
Tony cordero design years '90 Italy production Artemide Milan, lamp Ecate series to-mi Limit edition for this lamp. the lamp have two (2) brass chainmails shade for the best image...
Brass, Bronze, Chrome
Large 1990s Postmodern Handcrafted Ceramic Floor Vase Signed by the Artist.
Located in Miami, FL
Large Postmodern Handcrafted Ceramic Floor Vase Signed by the American Artist Patricia A Beatty. Dated 1993 Features a large-sized urn shaped with an abstract configuration of color...
Ceramic, Paint
Sculptural Tube Sofa by Anna & Carlo Bartoli for Rossi di Albizzate, 1990s Italy
By Rossi di Albizzate, Carlo Bartoli
Located in Zagreb, HR
Rare sculptural postmodern designer sofa model ''Tube'' designed by Anna & Carlo Bartoli for Italian high-end furniture manufacturer Rossi di Albizzate. The sofa features internal t...
Fabric, Foam
Set of 2 Memphis Style Table Lamps by George Kovacs for Sonneman, USA, c. 1990s
Located in Deland, FL
Enhance your interior with this striking set of two Post Modern Memphis Style table lamps, designed by the renowned George Kovacs and manufactured by Sonneman in the USA during the 1...
Metal
Postmodern Blue Bear Lamp, Heinz Klein for Elmar Flötotto, Germany, 1990s
By Elmar Flötotto
Located in Firenze, IT
Blue Bear large floor / table lamp Designed by Heinz Klein, Lumibär, Elmar Flötotto, Germany 1990 Plastic Measures: H 58 cm - 28 x 20 cm Conditions: good vintage conditio...
Plastic
Postmodern steel console table with spiral squiggle design USA 1980s / 1990s
Located in Hastings, GB
Stylish skinny postmodern steel console table with spiral squiggle design. USA 1980s/ 90s. Some wear to surface on right hand side (see video) Dimensions: width 120.5cm, depth 30.5c...
Steel
Set Of 4 Murano Glass Wall Lights/Sconces Attributed To Venini 1990s
Located in Palermo, IT
Set of 4 wall lamps with metal structure and transparent and milky Murano glass diffusers, attributed to Venini 1990s. Each has double lighting. We guarantee adequate packaging and...
Metal
$2,316Sale Price|20% Off
1990s Ceramic Vase Deborah Groover Voo Doo Jazz Maximalist Nude Scene Sculpture
Located in Hyattsville, MD
A colorful panel vase with nude scene, very large, tabletop piece by Deborah Groover from the 1990s. Nice shallow depth for placement on a narrow entryway/foyer table. No apparent ha...
Ceramic
$1,564Sale Price|20% Off
Sculpural and unique abstract gilded table lamp by Bondia, Spain, 1990s
By Cerámicas BONDIA
Located in SANT ADRIÀ DE BESÒS, ES
Stunning gilded table lamp by the well-known Valencian ceramicist brand Bondia. Designed and manufactured in the 90s, this sculptural piece is made of plaster and finished in gold le...
Metal, Chrome, Gold Leaf
1990s Sottsass Ettore Design for Bnl Italy Limited Edition of 950 Pilot Lawyers
By Sottsass Associati
Located in Biella, IT
Sottsass Ettore design years 1990 for BNL Italy bank, bag-case pilot lawyers travelware limited edition of 950 exemplary in the world, with original declaration visible in photo'...
Leather
Vase of Parchment Leather over Paper Mâché by R&Y Augousti, Paris, 1990s
By R & Y Augousti
Located in Osnabrück, NDS
A beautiful and rare 1990s early Artdeco style Vase from R&Y Augousti, Paris. This item is not pre-owned, it originates from a NOS /new old stock of a Design Gallery in Germany. Ma...
Parchment Paper, Paper
Pair of 1990s table lamps with a cast aluminum base with feet made by SOMPEX
By Sompex
Located in München, DE
Pair of very rare 1990s table lamps by Sompex Collection. They are no longer manufactured by Sompex. With original label on the feet. Typical Postmodern minimalist design. Heavy al...
Aluminum
Italian Murano Glass and Brass Gueridon Side Table, Green by Giovanni Dalla Fina
By Giovanni Dalla Fina
Located in Villaverla, IT
Italian Murano Glass and Brass Gueridon Side Table, Green, by Giovanni Dalla Fina, 1990s. This post-modern table brings striking Italian design and Venetian glass artistry to contemp...
Brass
Italian Wool Red Rug with Flower by Paola Lenti, 1990
By Paola Lenti
Located in Byron Bay, NSW
Details & Dimensions Designer: Paola Lenti Place of Origin: Italy Date of Manufacture: 1990s In style: Post Modern Materials & Techniques: Wool Condition: Good original condi...
Wool
4 Vintage Charles & Ray Eames Ebonized Plywood DCW Chairs for Herman Miller
By Charles and Ray Eames, Herman Miller
Located in St. Louis, MO
Previous owner purchased this set from a respected east coast modern dealer in the late 1990s, for their 1970s Post Modern home.
Plywood
“Colline” 1993 oil on wood painting/sculpture by Ettore Fico, Italy
Located in Henley-on Thames, Oxfordshire
Artist Ettore Fico (Italian, 1917 – 2004) Title Colline Year 1993 Medium Oil on wood (double-sided) Dimensions 40 W × 22.5 H × 13.5 D cm Signature Signed and dated lower center; labe...
Wood, Paint
Postmodern design was a short-lived movement that manifested itself chiefly in Italy and the United States in the early 1980s. The characteristics of vintage postmodern furniture and other postmodern objects and decor for the home included loud-patterned, usually plastic surfaces; strange proportions, vibrant colors and weird angles; and a vague-at-best relationship between form and function.
ORIGINS OF POSTMODERN FURNITURE DESIGN
CHARACTERISTICS OF POSTMODERN FURNITURE DESIGN
POSTMODERN FURNITURE DESIGNERS TO KNOW
VINTAGE POSTMODERN FURNITURE ON 1STDIBS
Critics derided postmodern design as a grandstanding bid for attention and nothing of consequence. Decades later, the fact that postmodernism still has the power to provoke thoughts, along with other reactions, proves they were not entirely correct.
Postmodern design began as an architectural critique. Starting in the 1960s, a small cadre of mainly American architects began to argue that modernism, once high-minded and even noble in its goals, had become stale, stagnant and blandly corporate. Later, in Milan, a cohort of creators led by Ettore Sottsass and Alessandro Mendini — a onetime mentor to Sottsass and a key figure in the Italian Radical movement — brought the discussion to bear on design.
Sottsass, an industrial designer, philosopher and provocateur, gathered a core group of young designers into a collective in 1980 they called Memphis. Members of the Memphis Group, which would come to include Martine Bedin, Michael Graves, Marco Zanini, Shiro Kuramata, Michele de Lucchi and Matteo Thun, saw design as a means of communication, and they wanted it to shout. That it did: The first Memphis collection appeared in 1981 in Milan and broke all the modernist taboos, embracing irony, kitsch, wild ornamentation and bad taste.
Memphis works remain icons of postmodernism: the Sottsass Casablanca bookcase, with its leopard-print plastic veneer; de Lucchi’s First chair, which has been described as having the look of an electronics component; Martine Bedin’s Super lamp: a pull-toy puppy on a power-cord leash. Even though it preceded the Memphis Group’s formal launch, Sottsass’s iconic Ultrafragola mirror — in its conspicuously curved plastic shell with radical pops of pink neon — proves striking in any space and embodies many of the collective’s postmodern ideals.
After the initial Memphis show caused an uproar, the postmodern movement within furniture and interior design quickly took off in America. (Memphis fell out of fashion when the Reagan era gave way to cool 1990’s minimalism.) The architect Robert Venturi had by then already begun a series of plywood chairs for Knoll Inc., with beefy, exaggerated silhouettes of traditional styles such as Queen Anne and Chippendale. In 1982, the new firm Swid Powell enlisted a group of top American architects, including Frank Gehry, Richard Meier, Stanley Tigerman and Venturi to create postmodern tableware in silver, ceramic and glass.
On 1stDibs, the vintage postmodern furniture collection includes chairs, coffee tables, sofas, decorative objects, table lamps and more.
It's hard to resist the allure of a beautiful pool. So, go ahead and daydream about whiling away your summer in paradise.
Alessandro Mendini, Michael Graves, Ettore Sottsass and other design luminaries contributed to this unusual collection of porcelain wares representing a time capsule of late-20th-century decorative art.
Aided by photos taken of the maestro in his Milan studio, we honor the influential design talent who died last month at 87.
Adam Charlap Hyman and Andre Herrero, rising young design talents, are debuting a new, eclectic line of textiles.