Cylinder Lucite Desk
Vintage 1930s American Art Deco Desk Sets
Chrome
Vintage 1980s Louis XVI Secretaires
Vintage 1960s Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps
Glass, Lucite
Vintage 1970s Italian Mid-Century Modern Decorative Boxes
Metal, Steel
Vintage 1970s Italian Mid-Century Modern Decorative Boxes
Metal, Brass, Chrome, Steel
Vintage 1960s American Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps
Brass
Vintage 1980s American Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps
Brass
Mid-20th Century Italian Modern Table Lamps
Aluminum, Chrome
20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps
Chrome
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Vintage 1960s French Mid-Century Modern Beds and Bed Frames
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21st Century and Contemporary Portuguese Art Deco Chandeliers and Pendants
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Early 20th Century American Arts and Crafts Desk Sets
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Mid-20th Century French Louis XV Desks and Writing Tables
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Early 20th Century American Folk Art Desks
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Mid-20th Century Decorative Boxes
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Vintage 1970s Italian Mid-Century Modern Desk Sets
Brass, Nickel
Vintage 1980s French Mid-Century Modern Secretaires
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Vintage 1970s American Table Lamps
Chrome
2010s American Modern Abstract Sculptures
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Vintage 1970s French Dining Room Chairs
Chrome, Steel
Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Decorative Boxes
Chrome
20th Century American Table Lamps
Vintage 1970s American Mid-Century Modern Desks and Writing Tables
Brass
Late 20th Century American Post-Modern Games
Acrylic, Lucite
Vintage 1970s American Mid-Century Modern Game Tables
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20th Century American Table Lamps
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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.