$556 / item
Reading Horse by Made by Choice
Located in Geneve, CH
metre campus where we turn abstract concepts into tangible objects. Our team in our office in Helsinki
Plywood
$39,331 / item
Metal Eresia Bookcase by Amura Lab
Located in Geneve, CH
Metal Eresia Bookcase by Amura Lab Dimensions: W 322 x D 40 x H 206 cm Materials: FRAME: Metal. Amura Lab: In their gaze, they carry the strong and poignant beauty of Southern Italy...
Metal
$18,459 / item
Palm Bookcase by Marioni
Located in Geneve, CH
Palm Bookcase by Marioni Dimensions: W 177 x D 40 x H 186 cm. Materials: Brass structure, glazed decorative ceramic elements and wooden shelves. Product code: 02961 Palm bookcase w...
Brass
Rare Italian design bookcase wood and leather Jumbo Line L. Massoni - Frau 70s
By Luigi Massoni, Paltrona Frau
Located in Milano, MI
An authentic piece of Italian design from the postmodern period of the late 1980s/early 1990s, the Jumbo Line bookcase is the brainchild of Massoni/Morozzi for Poltrona Frau, a histo...
Chrome
1980s Gilbert Rohde Style Green Italian Oval Marble Desk
By Gilbert Rohde
Located in Bensalem, PA
Exquisite desk in the manner of Gilbert Rohde features an amazing green Italian oval marble top which sits on 2 bronze half moon pedestals also has a small storage drawer
Marble
Postmodern CD Rack Tower in Wood, Metal and Plastic from Ezech, 1980s
Located in Hamburg, DE
Postmodern CD Rack Tower in Wood, Metal and Plastic from Ezech, 1980s, in Very Good conditions. Designed 1980 to 1989 This piece has an attribution mark, Additional information: Mat...
Metal
$8,226 / item
Raw Bookshelves by DAaZ
Located in Geneve, CH
Raw Bookshelves by DAaZ Dimensions: D 47.5 x W 221 x H 180 cm. Materials: Ash wood. DAaZ Furniture honors the spirit of adventure. We embrace the escape of the ordinary and revel i...
Ash
Pia Manu Hand Crafted Room Divider in Burnished Concrete and Stained Glass
Located in Waalwijk, NL
Pia Manu, room divider, burnished concrete, stained glass, steel, Belgium, 1970s This unique piece of art is assembled in the workshop of Pia Manu and is a great testament to their ...
Concrete, Steel
Italian Architectural Grid-Structured Higboard or Bookcase in Walnut
Located in Waalwijk, NL
Highboard or bookcase, walnut, Italy, 1980s Exceptional bookcase made in Italy that perfectly balances architectural elegance with a natural approach. The design is defined by a gra...
Walnut
Volume 02 Shelf in Light Brown Orange Stained Solid Abachi Wood by Tellurico
Located in Geneve, CH
Volume 02 Shelf in Light Brown Orange Stained Solid Abachi Wood by Tellurico Limited Edition of 16 Pieces + 1 A.P. Signed And Numbered. Dimensions: D 25 x W 87 x H 18 cm. Materials:...
Wood
Pyramid Shelf by Greg Palombo. Inspired by Shiro Kuramata
By Shiro Kuramata
Located in Hurricane, UT
The Pyramid Shelf is made and designed by American furniture maker Greg Palombo. This monumental shelf is a contemporary reinterpretation of the ancient and ubiquitous pyramid form. ...
Wood
Benchary Solid European Ash Mid-Height Bookcase by Marco Calhau
Located in Geneve, CH
Benchary Solid European Ash Mid-Height Bookcase by Marco Calhau Dimensions: D 40 x W 140 x H 90 cm. Materials: Solid European ash timber wood. All pieces are handmade and under orde...
Ash
Carlton 30th Anniversary Bookcase by Ettore Sottsass for Memphis Design
By Ettore Sottsass, Memphis Milano
Located in Ravenna, IT
Carlton is the most famous and iconic of all the objects designed for Memphis Milano. The piece was designed by Ettore Sottsass and first presented at the historic Memphis exhibition...
Laminate, Wood
Vintage 1980s Postmodern Lucite Lighted Freestanding Etagere Shelving Unit
Located in Keego Harbor, MI
A vintage postmodern lucite etagere. This is a lovely 1980s freestanding shelving unit with an all lucite construction. Both the top and the bottom of the frame features a bubbled te...
Lucite
Surreal Scandinavian Baby Body Ceramic Spice Rack in Pink Glaze
Located in Esbjerg, DK
Unknown/un-identified Scandinavian/Danish artist/ceramist small vanity/pill/perfume/spice rack/shelf for wall mount. Executed in ceramic and applied with a vibrant pink glaze. Plea...
Ceramic
Postmodern "The Colonnades" Shelving Unit by Pascal Mourgue for Artelano, 1990s
By Pascal Mourgue
Located in Rouen, FR
Totemic shelving unit designed by Pascal Mourgue for Artelano in the 1990s, part of the iconic Colonnades collection. A sculptural piece that blurs the line between furniture and ar...
Glass, Oak
Edge Shelf in Walnut Veneer With Satin Clear Coat by Veermakers
Located in Geneve, CH
projects, Louise Liljencrantz and KFK Cabinet Makers came together in 2017 to create their own furniture
Walnut
$5,207 / item
Oasi Console by WM Metal Design
By William Mulas
Located in Geneve, CH
Oasi Console by WM Metal Design Dimensions: D 48 x W 127 x H 140 cm. Materials: Aluminum. Oasi is a stunning aluminum sideboard with a design as decisive as its linear silhouette. ...
Aluminum
Limited Edition Primitivling Shelf in Black Marble by Justus Knut Schomann
Located in Geneve, CH
Limited Edition Primitivling Shelf in Black Marble by Justus Knut Schomann Limited Edition of 50 + 3AP. Dimensions: D 60,5 x W 105 x H 210 cm. Materials: Black marble. This piece ha...
Marble
$3,031 / item
Bona Large Desk by Pastform
Located in Geneve, CH
Bona Large Desk by Pastform Dimensions: D 73,5 x W 144 x H 76 cm. Materials: Stained and varnished wood. Available in different wood color finishes and combinations: Whiskey, Rum, N...
Wood
$2,320 / item
Cop Brown Medium Desk by Pastform
Located in Geneve, CH
Cop Brown Medium Desk by Pastform Dimensions: D 45 x W 120 x H 76 cm. Materials: Stained and varnished wood. Available in different wood color finishes and combinations: Whiskey, Ru...
Wood
$3,692 / item
David Desk by Pastform
Located in Geneve, CH
David Desk by Pastform Dimensions: D 61,5 x W 140 x H 78 cm. Materials: Stained and varnished wood. Available in different wood color finishes and combinations: Whiskey, Rum, Nobel,...
Wood
$4,842 / item
Aries Medium Desk by Pastform
Located in Geneve, CH
Aries Medium Desk by Pastform Dimensions: D 65 x W 150 x H 76 cm. Materials: Stained and varnished wood. Available in different wood color finishes and combinations: Whiskey, Rum, N...
Wood
$4,049 / item
Large Desk by Pastform
Located in Geneve, CH
1960 Large Desk by Pastform Dimensions: D 50 x W 120 x H 76 cm. Materials: Stained and varnished wood. Available in different wood color finishes and combinations: Edel/Schwarz, Rum...
Wood
$3,528 / item
Saban Large Desk by Pastform
Located in Geneve, CH
Saban Large Desk by Pastform Dimensions: D 60 x W 144 x H 76 cm. Materials: Stained and varnished wood. Available in different wood color finishes: Whiskey, Rum, BPA, Nobel, Brandy,...
Wood
$3,266 / item
Gemini Large Desk by Pastform
Located in Geneve, CH
Gemini Large Desk by Pastform Dimensions: D 55 x W 140 x H 76 cm. Materials: Stained and varnished wood. Available in different wood color finishes: Whiskey, Rum, BPA, Nobel, Brandy...
Wood
$2,911 / item
Gemini Medium Desk by Pastform
Located in Geneve, CH
Gemini Medium Desk by Pastform Dimensions: D 55 x W 120 x H 76 cm. Materials: Stained and varnished wood. Available in different wood color finishes: Whiskey, Rum, BPA, Nobel, Brand...
Wood
Neria Modular Shelving in Lacquered Wood, Horn & Burnished Metal by Arcahorn
Located in Geneve, CH
Neria Modular Shelving in Lacquered Wood, Horn & Burnished Metal by Arcahorn Dimensions: L 290 x H 270 cm. Materials: Horn, lacquered wood, and burnished metal. Colours and shades o...
Other, Metal
$3,706 / item
Classy Medium Desk by Pastform
Located in Geneve, CH
Classy Medium Desk by Pastform Dimensions: D 65 x W 160 x H 75 cm. Materials: Stained and varnished wood. Available in different wood color finishes: Whiskey, Rum, BPA, Nobel, Brand...
Wood
$2,344 / item
Bar Medium Desk by Pastform
Located in Geneve, CH
Bar Medium Desk by Pastform Dimensions: D 55 x W 120 x H 76 cm. Materials: Stained and varnished wood. Available in different wood color finishes: Whiskey, Rum, BPA, Nobel, Brandy, ...
Wood
Laminated Maple Vitulus Floating Shelf by David Tragen
Located in Geneve, CH
Laminated Maple Vitulus Floating Shelf by David Tragen Dimensions: W 110 x D 20 x H 14 cm Materials: Maple (Laminated), Painted. Weight: 2 kg. The elegant balletic movement of a se...
Maple
$4,592 / item
Laminated Ash Genie Floating Shelf by David Tragen
Located in Geneve, CH
Laminated Ash Genie Floating Shelf by David Tragen Dimensions: W 120 x D 66 x H 19 cm Materials: Ash (Laminated). Weight: 3 kg. If you’re looking to conjure up something special fo...
Ash
$2,166 / item
Ash Comet Floating Shelf by David Tragen
Located in Geneve, CH
Ash Comet Floating Shelf by David Tragen Dimensions: W 110 x D 14.5 x H 7 cm Materials: Ash. Weight: 3 kg. Comet catches the movement of light across the sky, in this angular, scul...
Ash
$5,920Sale Price|20% Off
Rare Sesamo Pop Up Desk / Secretary by Gianfranco Frattini for Bernini, 1981
By Bernini, Gianfranco Frattini
Located in Basel, BS
Exquisite and very rare Pop Up Desk by Gianfranco Frattini in Italy for Bernini. Label present, and all drawer pulls are stamped with the logo. When you pull the leather desk top fo...
Leather, Beech
$7,033 / item
Nippon Bookcase by De Castelli
Located in Geneve, CH
the space where it will be used, it can become a bookcase, display cabinet, notice board, display
Iron
Vittorio Introini for Proposals Wall Unit in Steel and Glass
Located in Waalwijk, NL
Vittorio Introini for Proposals wall unit or library, glass, steel, brass, Italy, 1970s This exceptional made-to-order wall unit was designed by Vittorio Introini and manufactured b...
Steel
“Abracadabra” Shelving Unit by De Pas, D’Urbino & Lomazzi for Zerodisegnio 1990
By Gionathan de Pas & Donato D’Urbino & Paolo Lomazzi
Located in Almelo, NL
An iconic large-scale postmodern shelving unit from the “Abracadabra” series, designed by De Pas, D’Urbino & Lomazzi and manufactured by Zerodisegnio, Italy, 1990s. A striking archit...
Metal, Aluminum
$19,537 / item
Metalique Bookshelf by Millim Studio
Located in Geneve, CH
Metalique Bookshelf by Millim Studio Unique Piece. Dimensions: D 40 x W 40 x H 170 cm. Materials: Aluminum. The product is handmade. Any variation in color or detailing results fro...
Aluminum
W2320 Wall Hanging Shelf in Honduras Rosewood Burl Wood by Jörg Pietschmann
By Jörg Pietschmann
Located in Geneve, CH
W2320 Wall Hanging Shelf in Honduras Rosewood Burl Wood by Jörg Pietschmann Dimensions: D 35 x W 69 x H 2,5 cm. Materials: Honduras rosewood burl. All wall shelves include steel pin...
Wood
W2360 Wall Hanging Shelf in Yew Wood by Jörg Pietschmann
By Jörg Pietschmann
Located in Geneve, CH
W2360 Wall Hanging Shelf in Yew Wood by Jörg Pietschmann Dimensions: D 32,5 x W 206 x H 11 cm. Materials: Yew wood. All wall shelves include steel pin holders for discreet mounting....
Yew
W2380 Wall Hanging Shelf in Oak Wood by Jörg Pietschmann
By Jörg Pietschmann
Located in Geneve, CH
W2380 Wall Hanging Shelf in Oak Wood by Jörg Pietschmann Dimensions: D 27 x W 212 x H 23 cm. Materials: Oak wood. All wall shelves include steel pin holders for discreet mounting. P...
Oak
W2373 Wall Hanging Shelf in Oak Wood by Jörg Pietschmann
By Jörg Pietschmann
Located in Geneve, CH
W2373 Wall Hanging Shelf in Oak Wood by Jörg Pietschmann Dimensions: D 22 x W 198 x H 60 cm. Materials: Oak wood. All wall shelves include steel pin holders for discreet mounting. P...
Oak
W2423 Wall Hanging Shelf in Teak Wood by Jörg Pietschmann
By Jörg Pietschmann
Located in Geneve, CH
W2423 Wall Hanging Shelf in Teak Wood by Jörg Pietschmann Dimensions: D 22,5 x W 125 x H 4,5 cm. Materials: Teak wood. All wall shelves include steel pin holders for discreet mounti...
Teak
W2403 Wall Hanging Shelf in Teak Wood by Jörg Pietschmann
By Jörg Pietschmann
Located in Geneve, CH
W2403 Wall Hanging Shelf in Teak Wood by Jörg Pietschmann Dimensions: D 25,5 x W 138,5 x H 4 cm. Materials: Teak wood. All wall shelves include steel pin holders for discreet mounti...
Teak
W2393 Wall Hanging Shelf in Walnut Wood by Jörg Pietschmann
By Jörg Pietschmann
Located in Geneve, CH
W2393 Wall Hanging Shelf in Walnut Wood by Jörg Pietschmann Dimensions: D 27 x W 140 x H 5 cm. Materials: Walnut wood. All wall shelves include steel pin holders for discreet mounti...
Walnut
W1032 Wall Hanging Shelf in Pao Rosa Wood by Jörg Pietschmann
By Jörg Pietschmann
Located in Geneve, CH
W1032 Wall Hanging Shelf in Pao Rosa Wood by Jörg Pietschmann Dimensions: D 18 x W 220 x H 3 cm. Materials: Pao Rosa wood. All wall shelves include steel pin holders for discreet mo...
Wood
W1275 Wall Hanging Shelf in Bog Oak Wood by Jörg Pietschmann
By Jörg Pietschmann
Located in Geneve, CH
W1275 Wall Hanging Shelf in Bog Oak Wood by Jörg Pietschmann Dimensions: D 16,5 x W 200 x H 3 cm. Materials: Oak wood. All wall shelves include steel pin holders for discreet mounti...
Oak
W1244 Wall Hanging Shelf in Padouk Wood by Jörg Pietschmann
By Jörg Pietschmann
Located in Geneve, CH
W1244 Wall Hanging Shelf in Padouk Wood by Jörg Pietschmann Dimensions: D 24,5 x W 174 x H 3,5 cm. Materials: Padouk wood. All wall shelves include steel pin holders for discreet mo...
Padouk
W0118 Wall Hanging Shelf in Mulberry Wood by Jörg Pietschmann
By Jörg Pietschmann
Located in Geneve, CH
W0118 Wall Hanging Shelf in Mulberry Wood by Jörg Pietschmann Dimensions: D 28 x W 100 x H 2,5 cm. Materials: Mulberry wood. All wall shelves include steel pin holders for discreet ...
Wood
W1013 Wall Hanging Shelf in Wych Elm Wood by Jörg Pietschmann
By Jörg Pietschmann
Located in Geneve, CH
W1013 Wall Hanging Shelf in Wych Elm Wood by Jörg Pietschmann Dimensions: D 28 x W 255 x H 4 cm. Materials: Elm wood. In Pietschmann’s sculptures, trees that for centuries were part...
Elm
W1062 Wall Hanging Shelf in Ziricote Wood by Jörg Pietschmann
By Jörg Pietschmann
Located in Geneve, CH
W1062 Wall Hanging Shelf in Ziricote Wood by Jörg Pietschmann Dimensions: D 23 x W 240 x H 2,5 cm. Materials: Ziricote wood. In Pietschmann’s sculptures, trees that for centuries we...
Ziricote
W1254 Wall Hanging Shelf in European Walnut Wood by Jörg Pietschmann
By Jörg Pietschmann
Located in Geneve, CH
W1254 Wall Hanging Shelf in European Walnut Wood by Jörg Pietschmann Dimensions: D 19,5 x W 255 x H 2,5 cm. Materials: Walnut wood. All wall shelves include steel pin holders for di...
Walnut
W1070 Wall Hanging Shelf in Cocobolo Wood by Jörg Pietschmann
By Jörg Pietschmann
Located in Geneve, CH
W1070 Wall Hanging Shelf in Cocobolo Wood by Jörg Pietschmann Dimensions: D 17 x W 185 x H 3 cm. Materials: Cocobolo wood. In Pietschmann’s sculptures, trees that for centuries were...
Wood
W1121 Wall Hanging Shelf in Cocobolo Wood by Jörg Pietschmann
By Jörg Pietschmann
Located in Geneve, CH
W1121 Wall Hanging Shelf in Cocobolo Wood by Jörg Pietschmann Dimensions: D 17,5 x W 162,5 x H 2 cm. Materials: Cocobolo wood. In Pietschmann’s sculptures, trees that for centuries ...
Wood
W0049 Wall Hanging Shelf in Cocobolo Wood by Jörg Pietschmann
By Jörg Pietschmann
Located in Geneve, CH
W0049 Wall Hanging Shelf in Cocobolo Wood by Jörg Pietschmann Dimensions: D 20 x W 155 x H 2,5 cm. Materials: Cocobolo wood. In Pietschmann’s sculptures, trees that for centuries we...
Wood
W0099 Wall Hanging Shelf in Zirikote Wood by Jörg Pietschmann
By Jörg Pietschmann
Located in Geneve, CH
W0099 Wall Hanging Shelf in Zirikote Wood by Jörg Pietschmann Dimensions: D 23 x W 190 x H 3 cm. Materials: Zirikote wood. In Pietschmann’s sculptures, trees that for centuries were...
Ziricote
W1234 Wall Hanging Shelf in Zirikote Wood by Jörg Pietschmann
By Jörg Pietschmann
Located in Geneve, CH
W1234 Wall Hanging Shelf in Zirikote Wood by Jörg Pietschmann Dimensions: D 19,5 x W 178 x H 2,5 cm. Materials: Zirikote wood. In Pietschmann’s sculptures, trees that for centuries ...
Ziricote
Postmodern design was a short-lived movement that manifested itself chiefly in Italy and the United States in the early 1980s. The characteristics of vintage postmodern furniture and other postmodern objects and decor for the home included loud-patterned, usually plastic surfaces; strange proportions, vibrant colors and weird angles; and a vague-at-best relationship between form and function.
ORIGINS OF POSTMODERN FURNITURE DESIGN
CHARACTERISTICS OF POSTMODERN FURNITURE DESIGN
POSTMODERN FURNITURE DESIGNERS TO KNOW
VINTAGE POSTMODERN FURNITURE ON 1STDIBS
Critics derided postmodern design as a grandstanding bid for attention and nothing of consequence. Decades later, the fact that postmodernism still has the power to provoke thoughts, along with other reactions, proves they were not entirely correct.
Postmodern design began as an architectural critique. Starting in the 1960s, a small cadre of mainly American architects began to argue that modernism, once high-minded and even noble in its goals, had become stale, stagnant and blandly corporate. Later, in Milan, a cohort of creators led by Ettore Sottsass and Alessandro Mendini — a onetime mentor to Sottsass and a key figure in the Italian Radical movement — brought the discussion to bear on design.
Sottsass, an industrial designer, philosopher and provocateur, gathered a core group of young designers into a collective in 1980 they called Memphis. Members of the Memphis Group, which would come to include Martine Bedin, Michael Graves, Marco Zanini, Shiro Kuramata, Michele de Lucchi and Matteo Thun, saw design as a means of communication, and they wanted it to shout. That it did: The first Memphis collection appeared in 1981 in Milan and broke all the modernist taboos, embracing irony, kitsch, wild ornamentation and bad taste.
Memphis works remain icons of postmodernism: the Sottsass Casablanca bookcase, with its leopard-print plastic veneer; de Lucchi’s First chair, which has been described as having the look of an electronics component; Martine Bedin’s Super lamp: a pull-toy puppy on a power-cord leash. Even though it preceded the Memphis Group’s formal launch, Sottsass’s iconic Ultrafragola mirror — in its conspicuously curved plastic shell with radical pops of pink neon — proves striking in any space and embodies many of the collective’s postmodern ideals.
After the initial Memphis show caused an uproar, the postmodern movement within furniture and interior design quickly took off in America. (Memphis fell out of fashion when the Reagan era gave way to cool 1990’s minimalism.) The architect Robert Venturi had by then already begun a series of plywood chairs for Knoll Inc., with beefy, exaggerated silhouettes of traditional styles such as Queen Anne and Chippendale. In 1982, the new firm Swid Powell enlisted a group of top American architects, including Frank Gehry, Richard Meier, Stanley Tigerman and Venturi to create postmodern tableware in silver, ceramic and glass.
On 1stDibs, the vintage postmodern furniture collection includes chairs, coffee tables, sofas, decorative objects, table lamps and more.
Of all the vintage storage cabinets and antique case pieces that have become popular in modern interiors over the years, dressers, credenzas and cabinets have long been home staples, perfect for routine storage or protection of personal items.
In the mid-19th century, cabinetmakers would mimic styles originating in the Louis XIV, Louis XV and Louis XVI eras for their dressers, bookshelves and other structures, and, later, simpler, streamlined wood designs allowed these “case pieces” or “case goods” — any furnishing that is unupholstered and has some semblance of a storage component — to blend into the background of any interior.
Mid-century modern furniture enthusiasts will cite the tall modular wall units crafted in teak and other sought-after woods of the era by the likes of George Nelson, Poul Cadovius and Finn Juhl. For these highly customizable furnishings, designers of the day delivered an alternative to big, heavy bookcases by considering the use of space — and, in particular, walls — in new and innovative ways. Mid-century modern credenzas, which, long and low, evolved from tables that were built as early as the 14th century in Italy, typically have no legs or very short legs and have grown in popularity as an alluring storage option over time.
Although the name immediately invokes images of clothing, dressers were initially created in Europe for a much different purpose. This furnishing was initially a flat-surfaced, low-profile side table equipped with a few drawers — a common fixture used to dress and prepare meats in English kitchens throughout the Tudor period. The drawers served as perfect utensil storage. It wasn’t until the design made its way to North America that it became enlarged and equipped with enough space to hold clothing and cosmetics. The very history of case pieces is a testament to their versatility and well-earned place in any room.
In the spirit of positioning your case goods center stage, decluttering can now be design-minded.
A contemporary case piece with open shelving and painted wood details can prove functional as a storage unit as easily as it can a room divider. Alternatively, apothecary cabinets are charming case goods similar in size to early dressers or commodes but with uniquely sized shelving and (often numerous) drawers.
Whether you’re seeking a playful sideboard that features colored glass and metal details, an antique Italian hand-carved storage cabinet or a glass-door vitrine to store and show off your collectibles, there are options for you on 1stDibs.