Mid-Century Modern Floor Lamps

MID-CENTURY MODERN STYLE

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

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.

Style: Mid-Century Modern

Creator: Stilnovo

Stilnovo Bruno Gatta standard floor lamp Italy 1951

Mid-Century Modern Floor Lamps

1950s Italian Vintage Mid-Century Modern Floor Lamps

Stilnovo Bruno Gatta standard floor lamp Italy 1951

1950s Italian Vintage Mid-Century Modern Floor Lamps

Stilnovo floorlamp in glass and Marble, circa 1950

Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Floor Lamps

Brass and Metal Floor Lamp - Stilnovo - Italy - 1950s

1950s Italian Vintage Mid-Century Modern Floor Lamps

20th Century Stilnovo Floor Lamp with Two Diffusers with Marble Base

1950s Italian Vintage Mid-Century Modern Floor Lamps

Stilnovo Floor Lamp 1950

Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Floor Lamps

Murano Vintage Stilnovo Floor Lamp in Glass Italy

1950s Italian Vintage Mid-Century Modern Floor Lamps

Rare Stilnovo Italia 1950s adjustable floor lamp marked

1950s Italian Vintage Mid-Century Modern Floor Lamps

Lampada da terra italiana in metallo, ottone e tessuto, di Stilnovo, 1950 ca.

1960s Italian Vintage Mid-Century Modern Floor Lamps

Stilnovo, Floor Lamp, Brass, Metal, Marble, Glass, Italy, 1960s

1960s Italian Vintage Mid-Century Modern Floor Lamps

Stilnovo Floor Lamp 1960s

1950s Italian Vintage Mid-Century Modern Floor Lamps

Rare Pair of Torchères by Stilnovo

1960s Italian Vintage Mid-Century Modern Floor Lamps

Alberello Floor Lamp by Stilnovo, Italy, 1960

Late 20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Floor Lamps

Mid Century Floor Lamp by Gae Aulenti for Stilnovo in Dark Green, circa 1975

1950s Italian Vintage Mid-Century Modern Floor Lamps

Vintage Stilnovo Floor Lamp, Black, White and Red Perforated Shade, Marble Base

1950s Italian Vintage Mid-Century Modern Floor Lamps

Floor Lamp by Stilnovo

1950s Italian Vintage Mid-Century Modern Floor Lamps

Mid Century Italian Rare Floor Lamp By Stilnovo 1950s

1980s Italian Vintage Mid-Century Modern Floor Lamps

Stilnovo 'Zagar' Floor Lamp by Sergio Carpani

Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Floor Lamps

Italian MidCentury Alberello Floor Lamp by Stilnovo 1950s

1950s Italian Vintage Mid-Century Modern Floor Lamps

Pair of Mid-Century Stilnovo Opal Glass and Brass Italian Sconces, 1950s

1960s Italian Vintage Mid-Century Modern Floor Lamps

Mid Century Italian Floor Lamp by Stilnovo 1960s

1960s Italian Vintage Mid-Century Modern Floor Lamps

Stilnovo floor lamp in marble brass and glass Italy 1960

1950s Italian Vintage Mid-Century Modern Floor Lamps

1950s Stilnovo tripod floor lamp

1950s Italian Vintage Mid-Century Modern Floor Lamps

Vintage floor lamp, Opaline Stilnovo tripode, Italy 1950s

1950s Italian Vintage Mid-Century Modern Floor Lamps

Stilnovo Adjustable Floor Lamp, Italy, 1950s

Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Floor Lamps

Mid-Century six arms floor lamp in Stilnovo manner. Italy 1950s

1950s Italian Vintage Mid-Century Modern Floor Lamps

Mid-Century Modern Standing Lamp by Stilnovo With Lucite Lampshade - Italy

1960s Italian Vintage Mid-Century Modern Floor Lamps

Alberello Floor Lamp by Stilnovo

1950s Italian Vintage Mid-Century Modern Floor Lamps

Stilnovo Mid Century Modern Italian Brass And Colored Glass Floor Lamp, 1950s

1950s Italian Vintage Mid-Century Modern Floor Lamps

1950 Floor Lamps Italian Design by Stilnovo Black Lacquer Round Cream Shade

1950s Italian Vintage Mid-Century Modern Floor Lamps

Gaetano Sciolari for Stilnovo, Italy, Rare Monochrome Floor Light, designed 1954

1950s Italian Vintage Mid-Century Modern Floor Lamps

Floor Lamp by Stilnovo

1950s Italian Vintage Mid-Century Modern Floor Lamps

Italian Mid-Century, Modern Floor Lamp with Adjustable Height by Stilnovo, 1950s

1970s Italian Vintage Mid-Century Modern Floor Lamps

Gae Aulenti & Livio Castiglioni Trepiù Floor Lamp for Stilnovo, Italy 1970s

1960s Italian Vintage Mid-Century Modern Floor Lamps

Lampada da terra Stilnovo anni '60

1950s Italian Vintage Mid-Century Modern Floor Lamps

Stilnovo red floor lamp, c. 1950

1950s Italian Vintage Mid-Century Modern Floor Lamps

Gaetano Sciolari Stilnovo floor lamp Italy 1954

Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Floor Lamps

Large Stilnovo floor lamp with green Alps marble base

1950s Italian Vintage Mid-Century Modern Floor Lamps

Stilnovo Floor Lamp in Opaline Glass and Teak

20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Floor Lamps

Italian Modern Stilnovo Floor Light with Metal, Wood and Brass Structure

1950s Italian Vintage Mid-Century Modern Floor Lamps