Teknion Used
2010s North American Modern Teknion Used
Fabric
21st Century and Contemporary Canadian Modern Teknion Used
Fabric
2010s American Modern Teknion Used
Aluminum, Chrome
2010s American Modern Teknion Used
Leather, Wood, Feathers
People Also Browsed
20th Century American Bohemian Teknion Used
Upholstery, Fabric
20th Century American Art Deco Teknion Used
Fabric
21st Century and Contemporary Portuguese Modern Teknion Used
Fabric, Velvet, Lacquer, Wood
Late 20th Century Moroccan Art Deco Teknion Used
Fabric
2010s British Scandinavian Modern Teknion Used
Mohair, Velvet, Oak
Mid-20th Century Swedish Mid-Century Modern Teknion Used
Upholstery, Walnut
1960s Swedish Mid-Century Modern Teknion Used
Upholstery, Teak
20th Century American Art Deco Teknion Used
Fabric
20th Century American Art Deco Teknion Used
Fabric
1970s American Mid-Century Modern Teknion Used
Walnut
20th Century French Mid-Century Modern Teknion Used
Mid-20th Century Swedish Teknion Used
Upholstery, Wood
1970s Italian Mid-Century Modern Teknion Used
Animal Skin, Leather
20th Century American Art Deco Teknion Used
Fabric, Upholstery
20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Teknion Used
Leather, Oak
1920s French Louis XVI Teknion Used
Leather, Wood
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 The modernists rejected both natural and historical references and relied primarily on industrial materials such as metal, glass, plywood, and, later, plastics.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.