Unda Form

Arguably the world’s most ubiquitous man-made material, plastic has impacted nearly every industry. In contemporary spaces, new and vintage plastic furniture is quite popular and its use pairs well with a range of design styles.

From the Italian lighting artisans at Fontana Arte to venturesome Scandinavian modernists such as Verner Panton, who created groundbreaking interiors as much as he did seating — see his revolutionary Panton chair — to contemporary multidisciplinary artists like Faye Toogood, furniture designers have been pushing the boundaries of plastic forever.

When The Graduate's Mr. McGuire proclaimed, “There’s a great future in plastics,” it was more than a laugh line. The iconic quote is an allusion both to society’s reliance on and its love affair with plastic. Before the material became an integral part of our lives — used in everything from clothing to storage to beauty and beyond — people relied on earthly elements for manufacturing, a process as time-consuming as it was costly.

Soon after American inventor John Wesley Hyatt created celluloid, which could mimic luxury products like tortoiseshell and ivory, production hit fever pitch, and the floodgates opened for others to explore plastic’s full potential. The material altered the history of design — mid-century modern legends Charles and Ray Eames, Joe Colombo and Eero Saarinen regularly experimented with plastics in the development of tables and chairs, and today plastic furnishings and decorative objects are seen as often indoors as they are outside.

Find vintage plastic lounge chairs, outdoor furniture, lighting and more on 1stDibs.

Today, there are few elements of decor as consistently beautiful as vibrantly colored, intricately patterned antique rugs. The legacy of fine Indian rugs and carpets dates back to the Mughal Empire, with Jalal-ud-Din Akbar in the 16th century establishing workshops for carpet weaving based on Persian practices. Combined with the aesthetics of Indian art, a new rug tradition was born.

In India, these Persian-inspired rugs and carpets were often made with lush materials, including silk, velvet and pashmina, a type of cashmere. It could take laborers as long as 15 years to weave a single carpet. Many of these rugs and carpets were created for royalty and frequently used inside palaces and mosques, particularly on special occasions.

Though the carpet weaving stemmed from a Persian tradition, Indian rugs and carpets featured designs that predated Persian influences. These complex patterns included floral, geometric, and animal motifs.

Indian rugs remain among the most coveted decorative items today. Browse 1stDibs for a wide variety of vintage, new and antique Indian rugs and carpets to establish a lavish focal point in any room in your home. See our guide to caring for your antique and vintage rugs, and read about how to choose the right area rug for your space.