Prolific jewelry designer John Brevard said it was a near-fatal childhood illness that led him to question the nature of human existence and its connection with the universe. Art and design would come to serve as an outlet for his self-expression, and Brevard’s visually engaging, cerebral and environmentally sustainable statement pieces embody the essence of 21st-century modernism.

Born in 1982 in Miami, Florida, Brevard had an intrinsic interest in nature and the arts as a child. However, at age 14, he contracted encephalitis and meningitis, leaving him comatose for several weeks. His recovery left him with a deep-seated desire to explore broad philosophical questions about human existence.

“There’s nothing more inspiring than the universe,” Brevard told Haute Living in 2014. “I’m influenced by realms of existence beyond our five physical senses ... alternate dimensions beyond our normal waking state consciousness.”

The experience, Brevard claimed, “served as the catalyst for his design philosophy and work ethic,” and he pursued a career in the arts, graduating with degrees in architecture and design.

In 2007, Brevard established his namesake brand. Its offerings included jewelry, accessories, handbags, shoes, furniture, art and more. He opened his first pop-up showroom in 2010 in Wynwood — an arts and culture district in Miami — where he displayed his visual art, which was listed in the Miami New Times’ “Best of Miami.”

Brevard launched his first luxury jewelry line in 2012 with fashion rings, pendant necklaces and cuff bracelets made of gold and silver, and embellished with precious stones. He opened his first permanent atelier and appointment-only showroom in Coral Gables the following year.

In 2015, Brevard opened his first flagship store in New York City and gained membership to the Council of Fashion Designers of America. He also launched Thoscene — a unique customization software that uses an astrological algorithm to create jewelry and accessories based on the time, date and location of a person’s birth.

Today, Brevard’s jewelry and other works can be found in galleries and retailers worldwide and have been featured in magazines such as Vogue, Forbes and Vanity Fair.

On 1stDibs, discover a range of John Brevard rings, necklaces, bracelets and more.

A Close Look at modern Furniture

The late 19th and early 20th centuries saw sweeping social change and major scientific advances — both of which contributed to a new aesthetic: modernism. Rejecting the rigidity of Victorian artistic conventions, modernists sought a new means of expression. References to the natural world and ornate classical embellishments gave way to the sleek simplicity of the Machine Age. Architect Philip Johnson characterized the hallmarks of modernism as “machine-like simplicity, smoothness or surface [and] avoidance of ornament.”

Early practitioners of modernist design include the De Stijl (“The Style”) group, founded in the Netherlands in 1917, and the Bauhaus School, founded two years later in Germany.

Followers of both groups produced sleek, spare designs — many of which became icons of daily life in the 20th century. The modernists rejected both natural and historical references and relied primarily on industrial materials such as metal, glass, plywood, and, later, plastics. While Bauhaus principals Marcel Breuer and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe created furniture from mass-produced, chrome-plated steel, American visionaries like Charles and Ray Eames worked in materials as novel as molded plywood and fiberglass. Today, Breuer’s Wassily chair, Mies van der Rohe’s Barcelona chair — crafted with his romantic partner, designer Lilly Reich — and the Eames lounge chair are emblems of progressive design and vintage originals are prized cornerstones of collections.

It’s difficult to overstate the influence that modernism continues to wield over designers and architects — and equally difficult to overstate how revolutionary it was when it first appeared a century ago. But because modernist furniture designs are so simple, they can blend in seamlessly with just about any type of décor. Don’t overlook them.

Finding the Right asian-art-furniture for You

From Japanese handmade earthenware pottery, originating circa 14,500 B.C. and adorned with elaborate corded patterns known as jōmon, to natural elm case pieces and storage cabinets built in Qing dynasty–era China to mid-century Thai rice-paper charcoal rubbings, antique and vintage Asian art and furniture make for wonderful additions to all kinds of contemporary interiors.

Eastern elements elevate any home’s decor. Introduce zen sensibility to your living room, dining room and bedroom with the neutral color palettes and the natural materials such as rattan, bamboo and elm that we typically associate with traditional Asian furniture. Decorative handwoven embroideries and textiles originating from India and elsewhere on the continent, which can be draped over a bed or sofa or used as a wall hanging, can be as practical as they are functional, just as you wouldn’t seek out Japanese room-divider screens — often decorated with paintings but constructed to be lightweight and mobile — merely for privacy.

With everything from blanket chests to lighting fixtures to sculptures and carvings, it’s easy to tastefully bring serenity to your living space by looking to the treasures for which the East has long been known.

For British-born furniture designer Andrianna Shamaris, the Japanese concept of beauty in imperfection isn’t limited to her Wabi Sabi collection. She embraces it in her New York City apartment as well. In the living area, for instance, she retained the fireplace’s original black marble while swathing its frame and the rest of the room in bright white.

“We left the fireplace very clean and wabi-sabi, so that it blended into the wall,” says Shamaris, who further appointed the space with a hand-carved antique daybed whose plush pillows are upholstered in antique textiles from the Indonesian island of Sumba.

In the growing antique and vintage Asian art and furniture collection on 1stDibs, find ceramics from China, antiquities from Cambodia and a vast range of tables, seating, dining chairs and other items from Japan, India and other countries.