Pink Murano Dish
Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Serving Bowls
Glass
Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Decorative Bowls
Art Glass, Blown Glass, Murano Glass, Sommerso, Glass
Late 20th Century Italian Post-Modern Ashtrays
Art Glass, Blown Glass, Murano Glass
Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Decorative Bowls
Glass, Murano Glass, Blown Glass, Art Glass
Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Vases
Blown Glass, Murano Glass
Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Jars
Blown Glass, Murano Glass
Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Decorative Dishes and Vide-P...
Gold Leaf
Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Decorative Bowls
Gold Leaf
Vintage 1950s Italian Mid-Century Modern Decorative Bowls
Gold Leaf
Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Decorative Bowls
Gold Leaf
Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Decorative Dishes and Vide-P...
Gold Leaf
Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Decorative Bowls
Murano Glass, Art Glass
Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Glass
Art Glass, Blown Glass, Murano Glass
Vintage 1950s Italian Mid-Century Modern Decorative Dishes and Vide-Poche
Art Glass, Blown Glass, Murano Glass, Ribbon, Glass
Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Decorative Bowls
Glass, Art Glass, Blown Glass, Murano Glass
Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Decorative Dishes and Vide-P...
Glass, Murano Glass, Blown Glass, Art Glass
Mid-20th Century Italian Modern Decorative Bowls
Murano Glass, Blown Glass, Art Glass
Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Decorative Bowls
Murano Glass, Art Glass
Vintage 1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Decorative Bowls
Blown Glass
Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Decorative Bowls
Glass, Art Glass, Blown Glass, Murano Glass
Vintage 1950s Italian Mid-Century Modern Decorative Bowls
Glass, Art Glass, Murrine, Sommerso, Murano Glass, Blown Glass
Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Decorative Bowls
Glass, Murrine, Murano Glass, Blown Glass, Art Glass
Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Decorative Bowls
Murano Glass, Art Glass
Late 20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Ashtrays
Blown Glass, Murano Glass
Late 20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Serving Bowls
Blown Glass, Murano Glass
Late 20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Serving Bowls
Blown Glass, Murano Glass
Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Glass
Art Glass, Murano Glass
Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Decorative Bowls
Gold Leaf
Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Decorative Bowls
Glass, Art Glass, Blown Glass, Murano Glass, Murrine, Opaline Glass
Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Decorative Bowls
Glass, Sommerso, Murano Glass, Blown Glass, Art Glass
Vintage 1950s Italian Mid-Century Modern Decorative Bowls
Glass, Opaline Glass, Murrine, Murano Glass, Blown Glass, Art Glass
Late 20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Ashtrays
Blown Glass, Murano Glass
Early 20th Century Italian Art Nouveau Centerpieces
Gold Leaf
Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Decorative Dishes and Vide-P...
Sommerso, Glass, Opaline Glass, Murano Glass, Blown Glass, Art Glass
Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Decorative Bowls
Art Glass, Opaline Glass, Murano Glass, Blown Glass
Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Decorative Bowls
Gold Leaf
Late 20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Ashtrays
Blown Glass, Murano Glass
Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Decorative Bowls
Glass, Art Glass, Blown Glass, Murano Glass
Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Decorative Bowls
Art Glass, Blown Glass, Murano Glass, Glass
Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Decorative Bowls
Gold Leaf
Vintage 1950s Italian Mid-Century Modern Decorative Bowls
Gold Leaf
Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Decorative Bowls
Gold Leaf
Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Decorative Bowls
Gold Leaf
Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Decorative Bowls
Gold Leaf
Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Decorative Bowls
Glass, Art Glass, Murano Glass, Sommerso, Blown Glass, Opaline Glass
Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Decorative Bowls
Gold Leaf
Mid-20th Century Italian Art Deco Decorative Bowls
Gold Leaf
Late 20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Vases
Blown Glass, Murano Glass
Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Decorative Bowls
Gold Leaf
Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Decorative Dishes and Vide-P...
Glass, Sommerso, Art Glass, Murano Glass, Blown Glass
Early 20th Century Italian Art Nouveau Decorative Bowls
Glass, Art Glass, Blown Glass, Murano Glass, Opaline Glass
Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Decorative Bowls
Gold Leaf
Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Decorative Bowls
Gold Leaf
Mid-20th Century American Decorative Dishes and Vide-Poche
Brass
Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Decorative Bowls
Glass, Art Glass, Blown Glass, Murano Glass
Mid-20th Century American Decorative Dishes and Vide-Poche
Brass
Vintage 1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Glass
Blown Glass
Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Decorative Dishes and Vide-P...
Murano Glass, Art Glass
20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Decorative Bowls
Glass, Sommerso, Murano Glass, Blown Glass, Art Glass
Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Decorative Bowls
Glass, Art Glass, Ribbon, Murano Glass, Blown Glass
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Pink Murano Dish For Sale on 1stDibs
How Much is a Pink Murano Dish?
A Close Look at Mid-Century Modern Furniture
Organically shaped, clean-lined and elegantly simple are three terms that well describe vintage mid-century modern furniture. The style, which emerged primarily in the years following World War II, is characterized by pieces that were conceived and made in an energetic, optimistic spirit by creators who believed that good design was an essential part of good living.
ORIGINS OF MID-CENTURY MODERN FURNITURE DESIGN
- Emerged during the mid-20th century
- Informed by European modernism, Bauhaus, International style, Scandinavian modernism and Frank Lloyd Wright’s architecture
- A heyday of innovation in postwar America
- Experimentation with new ideas, new materials and new forms flourished in Scandinavia, Italy, the former Czechoslovakia and elsewhere in Europe
CHARACTERISTICS OF MID-CENTURY MODERN FURNITURE DESIGN
- Simplicity, organic forms, clean lines
- A blend of neutral and bold Pop art colors
- Use of natural and man-made materials — alluring woods such as teak, rosewood and oak; steel, fiberglass and molded plywood
- Light-filled spaces with colorful upholstery
- Glass walls and an emphasis on the outdoors
- Promotion of functionality
MID-CENTURY MODERN FURNITURE DESIGNERS TO KNOW
- Charles and Ray Eames
- Eero Saarinen
- Milo Baughman
- Florence Knoll
- Harry Bertoia
- Isamu Noguchi
- George Nelson
- Danish modernists Hans Wegner and Arne Jacobsen, whose emphasis on natural materials and craftsmanship influenced American designers and vice versa
ICONIC MID-CENTURY MODERN FURNITURE DESIGNS
- Eames lounge chair
- Nelson daybed
- Florence Knoll sofa
- Egg chair
- Womb chair
- Noguchi coffee table
- Barcelona chair
VINTAGE MID-CENTURY MODERN FURNITURE ON 1STDIBS
The mid-century modern era saw leagues of postwar American architects and designers animated by new ideas and new technology. The lean, functionalist International-style architecture of Le Corbusier and Bauhaus eminences Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Walter Gropius had been promoted in the United States during the 1930s by Philip Johnson and others. New building techniques, such as “post-and-beam” construction, allowed the International-style schemes to be realized on a small scale in open-plan houses with long walls of glass.
Materials developed for wartime use became available for domestic goods and were incorporated into mid-century modern furniture designs. Charles and Ray Eames and Eero Saarinen, who had experimented extensively with molded plywood, eagerly embraced fiberglass for pieces such as the La Chaise and the Womb chair, respectively.
Architect, writer and designer George Nelson created with his team shades for the Bubble lamp using a new translucent polymer skin and, as design director at Herman Miller, recruited the Eameses, Alexander Girard and others for projects at the legendary Michigan furniture manufacturer.
Harry Bertoia and Isamu Noguchi devised chairs and tables built of wire mesh and wire struts. Materials were repurposed too: The Danish-born designer Jens Risom created a line of chairs using surplus parachute straps for webbed seats and backrests.
The Risom lounge chair was among the first pieces of furniture commissioned and produced by legendary manufacturer Knoll, a chief influencer in the rise of modern design in the United States, thanks to the work of Florence Knoll, the pioneering architect and designer who made the firm a leader in its field. The seating that Knoll created for office spaces — as well as pieces designed by Florence initially for commercial clients — soon became desirable for the home.
As the demand for casual, uncluttered furnishings grew, more mid-century furniture designers caught the spirit.
Classically oriented creators such as Edward Wormley, house designer for Dunbar Inc., offered such pieces as the sinuous Listen to Me chaise; the British expatriate T.H. Robsjohn-Gibbings switched gears, creating items such as the tiered, biomorphic Mesa table. There were Young Turks such as Paul McCobb, who designed holistic groups of sleek, blond wood furniture, and Milo Baughman, who espoused a West Coast aesthetic in minimalist teak dining tables and lushly upholstered chairs and sofas with angular steel frames.
As the collection of vintage mid-century modern chairs, dressers, coffee tables and other furniture for the living room, dining room, bedroom and elsewhere on 1stDibs demonstrates, this period saw one of the most delightful and dramatic flowerings of creativity in design history.
Finding the Right Decorative Objects for You
Every time you move into a house or an apartment — or endeavor to refresh the home you’ve lived in for years — life for that space begins anew. The right home accent, be it the simple placement of a decorative bowl on a shelf or a ceramic vase for fresh flowers, can transform an area from drab to spectacular. But with so many materials and items to choose from, it’s easy to get lost in the process. The key to styling with decorative objects is to work toward making a happy home that best reflects your personal style.
Ceramics are a versatile addition to any home. If you’ve amassed an assortment of functional pottery over the years, think of your mugs and salad bowls as decorative objects, ideal for displaying in a glass cabinet. Vintage ceramic serveware can pop along white open shelving in your dining area, while large stoneware pitchers paired with woven baskets or quilts in an open cupboard can introduce a rustic farmhouse-style element to your den.
Translucent decorative boxes or bowls made of an acrylic plastic called Lucite — a game changer in furniture that’s easy to clean and lasts long — are modern accents that are neutral enough to dress up a coffee table or desktop without cluttering it. If you’re showcasing pieces from the past, a vintage jewelry box for displaying your treasures can spark conversation. Where is the jewelry box from? Is there a story behind it?
Abstract sculptures or an antique vessel for your home library can draw attention to your book collection and add narrative charm to the most appropriate of corners. There’s more than one way to style your bookcases, and decorative objects add a provocative dynamic. “I love magnifying glasses,” says Alex Assouline, global vice president of luxury publisher Assouline, of adding one’s cherished objects to a home library. “They are both useful and decorative. Objects really elevate libraries and can also make them more personal.”
To help with personalizing your space and truly making it your own, find an extraordinary collection of decorative objects on 1stDibs.
Read More
How Noguchi Elevated Ashtrays to Objets d’Art
Smoking might have fallen out of fashion, but these ashtrays have enduring design appeal.
Jeff Andrews Captures Old Hollywood Glamour in His Cinematic Spaces
Having created extravagant homes for reality TV’s biggest stars, the designer is stepping into the spotlight with his first book.
Tapio Wirkkala Bucked the Trends of Mid-Century Nordic Design
The Finnish talent created nature-inspired pieces, from furniture to jewelry, with phenomenal staying power.