Baobab Desk
21st Century and Contemporary Swiss Futurist Desks and Writing Tables
Plastic
Late 20th Century Unknown Mid-Century Modern Desks and Writing Tables
Fiberglass
People Also Browsed
21st Century and Contemporary Portuguese Modern Benches
Fabric, Velvet, Lacquer, Wood
20th Century French Desks
Metal
Mid-20th Century Danish Mid-Century Modern Desks and Writing Tables
Rosewood
Mid-20th Century Danish Mid-Century Modern Desks
Cherry
Late 20th Century Belgian Desks
Polyester
Vintage 1970s French Space Age Sideboards
Fiberglass
Vintage 1970s Danish Mid-Century Modern Desks and Writing Tables
Aluminum
Vintage 1960s Swedish Mid-Century Modern Desks and Writing Tables
Wood
Vintage 1960s British Mid-Century Modern Desks and Writing Tables
Steel
20th Century Swedish Mid-Century Modern Desks and Writing Tables
Wood
Vintage 1960s Danish Mid-Century Modern Desks
Rosewood
Vintage 1960s Danish Mid-Century Modern Desks
Teak
Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Sofas
Fiberglass, Lucite
Vintage 1950s Italian Mid-Century Modern Desks and Writing Tables
Brass
Vintage 1960s Danish Mid-Century Modern Desks
Rosewood, Teak
Vintage 1960s French Space Age Architectural Elements
Fiberglass
Recent Sales
Early 2000s Italian Mid-Century Modern Desks and Writing Tables
Polystyrene
Vintage 1960s Italian Space Age Table Lamps
Metal
Materials: plastic Furniture
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.