With a vast inventory of beautiful furniture at 1stDibs, we’ve got just the 70s Italian plastic you’re looking for. A 70s Italian plastic — often made from
plastic,
metal and
chrome — can elevate any home. There are many kinds of the 70s Italian plastic you’re looking for, from those produced as long ago as the 20th Century to those made as recently as the 20th Century. A 70s Italian plastic, designed in the
mid-century modern style, is generally a popular piece of furniture. You’ll likely find more than one 70s Italian plastic that is appealing in its simplicity, but
Olivetti,
Studio BBPR and
Alias produced versions that are worth a look.
Arguably the world’s most ubiquitous man-made material, plastic has impacted nearly every industry. In contemporary spaces, new and vintage plastic furniture is quite popular and its use pairs well with a range of design styles.
From the Italian lighting artisans at Fontana Arte to venturesome Scandinavian modernists such as Verner Panton, who created groundbreaking interiors as much as he did seating — see his revolutionary Panton chair — to contemporary multidisciplinary artists like Faye Toogood, furniture designers have been pushing the boundaries of plastic forever.
When The Graduate's Mr. McGuire proclaimed, “There’s a great future in plastics,” it was more than a laugh line. The iconic quote is an allusion both to society’s reliance on and its love affair with plastic. Before the material became an integral part of our lives — used in everything from clothing to storage to beauty and beyond — people relied on earthly elements for manufacturing, a process as time-consuming as it was costly.
Soon after American inventor John Wesley Hyatt created celluloid, which could mimic luxury products like tortoiseshell and ivory, production hit fever pitch, and the floodgates opened for others to explore plastic’s full potential. The material altered the history of design — mid-century modern legends Charles and Ray Eames, Joe Colombo and Eero Saarinen regularly experimented with plastics in the development of tables and chairs, and today plastic furnishings and decorative objects are seen as often indoors as they are outside.
Find vintage plastic lounge chairs, outdoor furniture, lighting and more on 1stDibs.