Mira-X On Sale
Mid-20th Century Danish Space Age Quilts and Blankets
Cotton
People Also Browsed
21st Century and Contemporary Portuguese Modern Western European Rugs
Natural Fiber, Synthetic, Wool
20th Century French Desks
Metal
Mid-20th Century Finnish Mid-Century Modern Dining Room Sets
Birch
20th Century European Space Age Flush Mount
Aluminum
Vintage 1960s French Mid-Century Modern Beds and Bed Frames
Fiberglass
Vintage 1970s English Western European Rugs
Wool
21st Century and Contemporary Danish Modern Rugs
Wool
21st Century and Contemporary Danish Modern Rugs
Wool
Mid-20th Century Danish Mid-Century Modern Russian and Scandinavian Rugs
Linen
Vintage 1960s Danish Scandinavian Modern Lounge Chairs
Cowhide, Leather, Fiberglass
Mid-20th Century Danish Mid-Century Modern Russian and Scandinavian Rugs
Linen
20th Century Scandinavian Mid-Century Modern Russian and Scandinavian Rugs
Linen
Vintage 1970s American Mid-Century Modern Wall Mirrors
Mirror, Wood
A Close Look at space-age Furniture
Vintage Space Age furniture captured post–World War II optimism with swooping shapes, bowed lines and experimentation with new materials including plastic and fiberglass.
From the launch of the Sputnik 1 satellite in 1957 to the landing of Apollo 11 astronauts on the moon in 1969, the space race between the Soviet Union and the United States propelled advancements in technology that transformed culture. Space Age design encompassed fashion, architecture, cars, furniture and objects for the home, bringing wonder and hope for the future into everyday life.
Coinciding with Pop art, Space Age style featured bold colors and forms. Eero Aarnio’s Ball chair, which debuted in 1966, used molded fiberglass for a capsule-like space while Verner Panton’s 1959 Panton chair was a single piece of molded plastic for a gravity-defying S shape. Red versions of Olivier Mourgue’s 1964 Djinn chair were futuristic enough to appear on the space station in Stanley Kubrick’s 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey. Today, Joe Colombo is revered as a master of modern Italian design thanks to the provocative modular furniture pieces he created, such as the Tube chair and the Elda armchair, both of which embody the future-forward spirit of the Space Age.
The Space Age spirit extended to home building too. The futuristic Case Study Houses, which were designed by the likes of Pierre Koenig, Charles and Ray Eames, Richard Neutra and Whitney R. Smith, are considered a high point of modernism and the Southern California lifestyle.
Sometimes the nods to space exploration were more literal, like moon and star motifs or the 1965 Eclisse lamp by Vico Magistretti that saw the mid-century Italian designer integrating a movable inner shade to “eclipse” the light source. Alongside the pioneering moon missions, JVC manufactured the Videosphere portable television reminiscent of the Apollo 11 space helmets.
Although the style faded in the 1970s — with the 1975 joining of the Apollo and Soyuz spacecrafts signaling a new era of cooperation and the global oil crisis impacting the availability of plastics — the era’s innovations influenced designers into the 21st century such as Zaha Hadid and Djivan Schapira.
Find a collection of vintage Space Age seating, tables, lighting and other furniture on 1stDibs.