Hill Lucite Barstools
Vintage 1980s American Post-Modern Stools
Steel
Vintage 1970s American Mid-Century Modern Stools
Steel
Vintage 1970s American Mid-Century Modern Stools
Chrome
Recent Sales
Late 20th Century North American Chairs
Lucite, Wood
Vintage 1970s North American Mid-Century Modern Stools
Brass
Vintage 1970s American Stools
Late 20th Century American Space Age Stools
Chrome
Vintage 1970s American Mid-Century Modern Stools
Chrome
Vintage 1970s American Hollywood Regency Stools
Brass
Vintage 1970s American Hollywood Regency Stools
Chrome
Vintage 1970s American Mid-Century Modern Stools
Chrome
Vintage 1980s American Modern Stools
Chrome
Mid-20th Century North American Mid-Century Modern Stools
Chrome
Vintage 1970s American Hollywood Regency Stools
Chrome
Vintage 1970s American Mid-Century Modern Stools
Chrome
20th Century American Hollywood Regency Stools
Chrome
Vintage 1970s North American Stools
Brass
People Also Browsed
Late 20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Chandeliers and Pendants
Art Glass, Murano Glass
2010s Italian Mid-Century Modern Wall Lights and Sconces
Brass
Late 20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Chandeliers and Pendants
Art Glass, Murano Glass
Mid-20th Century French Neoclassical Benches
Bronze, Wrought Iron
Mid-20th Century American Brutalist Sideboards
Brass
Vintage 1970s Austrian Mid-Century Modern Flush Mount
Murano Glass
2010s American Mid-Century Modern Carts and Bar Carts
Brass
21st Century and Contemporary Portuguese Modern Wall Mirrors
Mirror, Lacquer
2010s Italian Wall Lights and Sconces
Brass
Antique 1890s European Platters and Serveware
Copper
Vintage 1950s Italian Mid-Century Modern Armchairs
Velvet, Wood
Vintage 1950s Italian Credenzas
Wood
Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Chandeliers and Pendants
Plastic
Vintage 1940s French Art Deco Cabinets
Brass
Vintage 1950s Italian Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps
Murano Glass, Lucite
Vintage 1960s American Hollywood Regency Slipper Chairs
Upholstery, Mahogany
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.
Finding the Right Stools for You
Stools are versatile and a necessary addition to any living room, kitchen area or elsewhere in your home. A sofa or reliable lounge chair might nab all the credit, comfort-wise, but don’t discount the roles that good antique, new and vintage stools can play.
“Stools are jewels and statements in a space, and they can also be investment pieces,” says New York City designer Amy Lau, who adds that these seats provide an excellent choice for setting an interior’s general tone.
Stools, which are among the oldest forms of wooden furnishings, may also serve as decorative pieces, even if we’re talking about a stool that is far less sculptural than the gracefully curving molded plywood shells that make up Sōri Yanagi’s provocative Butterfly stool.
Fawn Galli, a New York interior designer, uses her stools in the same way you would use a throw pillow. “I normally buy several styles and move them around the home where needed,” she says.
Stools are smaller pieces of seating as compared to armchairs or dining chairs and can add depth as well as functionality to a space that you’ve set aside for entertaining. For a splash of color, consider the Stool 60, a pioneering work of bentwood by Finnish architect and furniture maker Alvar Aalto. It’s manufactured by Artek and comes in a variety of colored seats and finishes.
Barstools that date back to the 1970s are now more ubiquitous in kitchens. Vintage barstools have seen renewed interest, be they a meld of chrome and leather or transparent plastic, such as the Lucite and stainless-steel counter stool variety from Indiana-born furniture designer Charles Hollis Jones, who is renowned for his acrylic works. A cluster of barstools — perhaps a set of four brushed-aluminum counter stools by Emeco or Tubby Tube stools by Faye Toogood — can encourage merriment in the kitchen. If you’ve got the room for family and friends to congregate and enjoy cocktails where the cooking is done, consider matching your stools with a tall table.
Whether you need counter stools, drafting stools or another kind, explore an extensive range of antique, new and vintage stools on 1stDibs.