Kartell Dune
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Serving Pieces
Plastic
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Serving Pieces
Plastic
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Platters and Serveware
Crystal
Vintage 1970s Spanish Space Age Cabinets
Plastic
Vintage 1970s Italian Space Age Side Tables
Plastic
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20th Century French Desks
Metal
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Shelves
Resin
21st Century and Contemporary Portuguese Modern Benches
Fabric, Velvet, Lacquer, Wood
Vintage 1960s German Hollywood Regency Chandeliers and Pendants
Crystal, Brass, Gold Plate
Vintage 1970s American Mid-Century Modern End Tables
Glass, Fiberglass, Lucite
Vintage 1970s French Space Age Architectural Elements
Metal, Aluminum
Vintage 1970s French Mid-Century Modern Desks and Writing Tables
Steel
Late 20th Century North American Musical Instruments
Iron
Late 20th Century Belgian Desks
Polyester
Vintage 1960s French Mid-Century Modern Beds and Bed Frames
Fiberglass
Vintage 1960s American Arts and Crafts Windows
Lead
2010s Italian Glass
Glass
Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Figurative Sculptures
Gold Leaf
Mid-20th Century Swedish Scandinavian Modern Barware
Art Glass, Blown Glass
Vintage 1980s American Modern Glass
Blown Glass
Vintage 1960s American Mid-Century Modern Architectural Elements
Lead
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.