Postmodern Chair
Late 20th Century American Post-Modern Chairs
Upholstery
Vintage 1980s Danish Post-Modern Chairs
Fabric, Wood
20th Century American Post-Modern Chairs
Brass
20th Century American Post-Modern Chairs
Textile
Vintage 1980s Italian Art Deco Chairs
Aluminum, Steel
20th Century Minimalist Sofas
Fabric
Vintage 1980s Italian Post-Modern Chairs
Chrome
Vintage 1980s American Post-Modern Chairs
Wool, Laminate, Plywood
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Post-Modern Armchairs
Leather
20th Century American Post-Modern Chairs
Textile
Vintage 1980s French Post-Modern Chairs
Steel
Late 20th Century Italian Post-Modern Dining Room Chairs
Steel, Aluminum
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Side Chairs
Resin
Vintage 1980s European Post-Modern Chairs
Metal
Vintage 1980s German Post-Modern Chairs
Steel
Vintage 1980s Italian Post-Modern Dining Room Chairs
Burl, Lacquer
Vintage 1980s Croatian Post-Modern Dining Room Chairs
Metal
21st Century and Contemporary North American Post-Modern Chairs
Resin
20th Century Unknown Post-Modern Chairs
Metal
Late 20th Century Italian Post-Modern Chairs
Steel
20th Century French French Provincial Chairs
Mahogany
Late 20th Century German Post-Modern Chairs
Paper
Late 20th Century European Post-Modern Armchairs
Leather, Oak
Vintage 1980s American Post-Modern Club Chairs
Ultrasuede
Vintage 1980s Unknown Post-Modern Lounge Chairs
Ultrasuede
Vintage 1970s American Post-Modern Lounge Chairs
Leather
Late 20th Century Post-Modern Chairs
Fabric
2010s American Post-Modern Chairs
Wood
Vintage 1980s American Mid-Century Modern Chairs
Aluminum
20th Century Post-Modern Chairs
Metal
Vintage 1980s American Post-Modern Swivel Chairs
Upholstery
Late 20th Century Post-Modern Chairs
Chrome
Vintage 1980s American Post-Modern Lounge Chairs
Fabric
Vintage 1980s American Post-Modern Club Chairs
Fabric
Vintage 1970s Mid-Century Modern Slipper Chairs
Upholstery
Vintage 1980s American Post-Modern Lounge Chairs
Bouclé
Late 20th Century Unknown Post-Modern Lounge Chairs
Suede
2010s American Post-Modern Chairs
Wood
Late 20th Century Italian Post-Modern Chairs
Wood
20th Century Post-Modern Lounge Chairs
Chrome
Vintage 1980s American Post-Modern Lounge Chairs
Stainless Steel
Vintage 1980s Post-Modern Chairs
Upholstery
Vintage 1980s Italian Post-Modern Chairs
Steel
1990s American Post-Modern Chairs
Leather
Vintage 1980s Italian Post-Modern Chairs
Steel
Vintage 1980s Post-Modern Chairs
Leather
Vintage 1980s American Post-Modern Lounge Chairs
Velvet
Vintage 1980s American Post-Modern Lounge Chairs
Metal
Vintage 1980s American Post-Modern Lounge Chairs
Upholstery
Late 20th Century North American Post-Modern Chairs
Metal
21st Century and Contemporary Danish Post-Modern Lounge Chairs
Leather, Wood
Vintage 1970s American Post-Modern Lounge Chairs
Faux Leather
1990s Italian Post-Modern Chairs
Metal, Chrome
Vintage 1970s Dutch Post-Modern Lounge Chairs
Leather
Vintage 1980s American Post-Modern Chairs
Aluminum
20th Century American Post-Modern Lounge Chairs
Textile
Vintage 1980s American Post-Modern Lounge Chairs
Bouclé
Vintage 1980s Post-Modern Lounge Chairs
Upholstery, Fabric
Vintage 1980s Norwegian Scandinavian Modern Armchairs
Wood
Vintage 1980s American Post-Modern Dining Room Chairs
Fabric
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Postmodern Chair For Sale on 1stDibs
How Much is a Postmodern Chair?
A Close Look at post-modern Furniture
Strictly speaking, postmodern design was a short-lived movement that manifested itself chiefly in Italy and the United States in the early 1980s. The characteristics of postmodern furniture and other postmodern objects included hot-colored, loud-patterned, usually plastic surfaces; strange proportions and weird angles; and a vague-at-best relationship between form and function.
Critics derided postmodern design as a grandstanding bid for attention and nothing of consequence. The fact that, decades later, postmodern design still has the power to provoke thoughts (along with other reactions) proves they were not entirely correct.
Postmodernism 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. In the next decade in Milan, a cohort of designers led by Ettore Sottsass and Alessandro Mendini brought the discussion to bear on design.
Sottsass and Michele de Lucchi, in 1980, gathered a core group of young designers, which would come to include Michael Graves, Marco Zanini, Shiro Kuramata and Matteo Thun, into a design collective they called Memphis. The Memphis Group saw design as a means of communication and they wanted it to shout. That it did: the first Memphis collection appeared in 1981 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. After the initial Memphis show caused an uproar, postmodern design quickly took off in America. The architect Robert Venturi had 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 collection of postmodern furniture includes seating, decorative objects, lighting fixtures and more.
Finding the Right Seating for You
With entire areas of our homes reserved for “sitting rooms,” the value of quality antique and vintage seating cannot be overstated.
Fortunately, the design of side chairs, armchairs and other lounge furniture — since what were, quite literally, the early perches of our ancestors — has evolved considerably.
Among the earliest standard seating furniture were stools. Egyptian stools, for example, designed for one person with no seat back, were x-shaped and typically folded to be tucked away. These rudimentary chairs informed the design of Greek and Roman stools, all of which were a long way from Sori Yanagi's Butterfly stool or Alvar Aalto's Stool 60. In the 18th century and earlier, seats with backs and armrests were largely reserved for high nobility.
The seating of today is more inclusive but the style and placement of chairs can still make a statement. Antique desk chairs and armchairs designed in the style of Louis XV, which eventually included painted furniture and were often made of rare woods, feature prominently curved legs as well as Chinese themes and varied ornaments. Much like the thrones of fairy tales and the regency, elegant lounges crafted in the Louis XV style convey wealth and prestige. In the kitchen, the dining chair placed at the head of the table is typically reserved for the head of the household or a revered guest.
Of course, with luxurious vintage or antique furnishings, every chair can seem like the best seat in the house. Whether your preference is stretching out on a plush sofa, such as the Serpentine, designed by Vladimir Kagan, or cozying up in a vintage wingback chair, there is likely to be a comfy classic or contemporary gem for you on 1stDibs.
With respect to the latest obsessions in design, cane seating has been cropping up everywhere, from sleek armchairs to lounge chairs, while bouclé fabric, a staple of modern furniture design, can be seen in mid-century modern, Scandinavian modern and Hollywood Regency furniture styles.
Admirers of the sophisticated craftsmanship and dark woods frequently associated with mid-century modern seating can find timeless furnishings in our expansive collection of lounge chairs, dining chairs and other items — whether they’re vintage editions or alluring official reproductions of iconic designs from the likes of Hans Wegner or from Charles and Ray Eames. Shop our inventory of Egg chairs, designed in 1958 by Arne Jacobsen, the Florence Knoll lounge chair and more.
No matter your style, the collection of antique, new and vintage seating on 1stDibs is surely worthy of a standing ovation.