Henredon Pembroke

Organically shaped, clean-lined and elegantly simple are three terms that well describe vintage mid-century modern furniture. The style, which emerged primarily in the years following World War II, is characterized by pieces that were conceived and made in an energetic, optimistic spirit by creators who believed that good design was an essential part of good living.

ORIGINS OF MID-CENTURY MODERN FURNITURE DESIGN

• Emerged during the mid-20th century 
• Informed by European modernism, Bauhaus, International style, Scandinavian modernism and Frank Lloyd Wright’s architecture
• A heyday of innovation in postwar America 
• Experimentation with new ideas, new materials and new forms flourished in Scandinavia, Italy, the former Czechoslovakia and elsewhere in Europe

CHARACTERISTICS OF MID-CENTURY MODERN FURNITURE DESIGN

• Simplicity, organic forms, clean lines  
• A blend of neutral and bold Pop art colors 
• Use of natural and man-made materials — alluring woods such as teak, rosewood and oak; steel, fiberglass and molded plywood 
• Light-filled spaces with colorful upholstery 
• Glass walls and an emphasis on the outdoors 
• Promotion of functionality

MID-CENTURY MODERN FURNITURE DESIGNERS TO KNOW

• Charles and Ray Eames
• Eero Saarinen
• Milo Baughman
• Florence Knoll
• Harry Bertoia 
• Isamu Noguchi 
• George Nelson 
• Danish modernists Hans Wegner and Arne Jacobsen, whose emphasis on natural materials and craftsmanship influenced American designers and vice versa

ICONIC MID-CENTURY MODERN FURNITURE DESIGNS

• Eames lounge chair
• Nelson daybed
• Florence Knoll sofa
• Egg chair
• Womb chair
• Noguchi coffee table
• Barcelona chair

VINTAGE MID-CENTURY MODERN FURNITURE ON 1STDIBS

The mid-century modern era saw leagues of postwar American architects and designers animated by new ideas and new technology. The lean, functionalist International-style architecture of Le Corbusier and Bauhaus eminences Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Walter Gropius had been promoted in the United States during the 1930s by Philip Johnson and others. New building techniques, such as “post-and-beam” construction, allowed the International-style schemes to be realized on a small scale in open-plan houses with long walls of glass.

Materials developed for wartime use became available for domestic goods and were incorporated into mid-century modern furniture designs. Charles and Ray Eames and Eero Saarinen, who had experimented extensively with molded plywood, eagerly embraced fiberglass for pieces such as the La Chaise and the Womb chair, respectively. 

Architect, writer and designer George Nelson created with his team shades for the Bubble lamp using a new translucent polymer skin and, as design director at Herman Miller, recruited the Eameses, Alexander Girard and others for projects at the legendary Michigan furniture manufacturer. 

Harry Bertoia and Isamu Noguchi devised chairs and tables built of wire mesh and wire struts. Materials were repurposed too: The Danish-born designer Jens Risom created a line of chairs using surplus parachute straps for webbed seats and backrests.

The Risom lounge chair was among the first pieces of furniture commissioned and produced by legendary manufacturer Knoll, a chief influencer in the rise of modern design in the United States, thanks to the work of Florence Knoll, the pioneering architect and designer who made the firm a leader in its field. The seating that Knoll created for office spaces — as well as pieces designed by Florence initially for commercial clients — soon became desirable for the home.

As the demand for casual, uncluttered furnishings grew, more mid-century furniture designers caught the spirit.

Classically oriented creators such as Edward Wormley, house designer for Dunbar Inc., offered such pieces as the sinuous Listen to Me chaise; the British expatriate T.H. Robsjohn-Gibbings switched gears, creating items such as the tiered, biomorphic Mesa table. There were Young Turks such as Paul McCobb, who designed holistic groups of sleek, blond wood furniture, and Milo Baughman, who espoused a West Coast aesthetic in minimalist teak dining tables and lushly upholstered chairs and sofas with angular steel frames.

As the collection of vintage mid-century modern chairs, dressers, coffee tables and other furniture for the living room, dining room, bedroom and elsewhere on 1stDibs demonstrates, this period saw one of the most delightful and dramatic flowerings of creativity in design history.

Antique and vintage drop-leaf and Pembroke tables are the perfect solution for those of us in the “space-conscious” category. These furnishings have long been a smart choice for homes, particularly if you’re working with an especially modest house or apartment.

A drop-leaf table is a table with a fixed center section, but on either side of that, there are hinged leaves that can be raised or lowered according to your specific needs.

Should you need to accommodate more guests for a dinner party, a drop-leaf table’s side pieces can be raised and locked into place on their hinges, which will extend the overall surface area of the table. If you’re thinking of serving buffet-style or need a place for dinner plates and other tableware, fold one half of the table down and tuck it against the wall, console-table-style, to make more space for the guests congregating in your dining room. When your dinner companions are ready to retire to the living room for a digestif, both drop leaves can be collapsed if you need a makeshift bar cart or if you prefer to stow away the table after dinner.

The Pembroke version of these tables was a lightweight iteration that is believed to have been named for the ninth Earl of Pembroke or his wife, the countess. It is said that the countess had a drop-leaf table commissioned for their home, specifically for the purposes of serving and eating breakfast. This Georgian-era furniture had an oval or rectangular tabletop, was usually outfitted with a drawer and was frequently made of mahogany. It was a popular furnishing that was made through the Victorian and Edwardian periods.

With its convenient transformative qualities, a drop-leaf table can be put to use in every room of your home. A Pembroke nightstand would render having breakfast from the comfort of your bed easier than ever, while a casual living-room drop-leaf end table can quickly be extended in order to make room for movie-night snacks or a family game. The appeal of these tables doesn’t end at 18th-century nobility or chess enthusiasts, however.

Furniture designers of mid-century modern drop-leaf tables explored various forms and worked with a range of materials in crafting these furnishings and even integrated elements such as wheels for extra convenience. On 1stDibs, find a wide variety of vintage and antique drop-leaf and Pembroke tables that includes sleek and understated iterations crafted by Hans J. Wegner and alluring versions in teak or rosewood designed by Kurt Østervig.