Mid-Century Modern Office Chairs and Desk Chairs
Organically shaped, clean-lined and elegantly simple are three terms that well describe vintage mid-century modern American 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.
Postwar American architects and designers were animated by new ideas and new technology. The lean, functionalist “International Style” architecture of Le Corbusier and Bauhaus eminences such as Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Walter Gropius had been promoted in the United States during the ’30s 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, respectively, pieces such as the La Chaise and the Womb chair. George Nelson and his design team created Bubble lamp shades using a new translucent polymer skin. Harry Bertoia and Isamu Noguchi devised chairs and tables built of wire mesh and wire struts. Materials were re-purposed: the Danish-born designer Jens Risom created a line of chairs that used 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 influence 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.
As the demand for casual, uncluttered furnishings grew, more mid-century 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, blonde-wood furniture — and Milo Baughman, who espoused a West Coast aesthetic in lushly upholstered chairs and sofas with angular steel frames.
As the collection of vintage mid-century modern chairs, dressers, coffee tables and other furniture on 1stDibs demonstrates, this period saw one of the most delightful and dramatic flowerings of creativity in design history.
1970s Dutch Vintage Mid-Century Modern Office Chairs and Desk Chairs
Aluminum
1960s Vintage Mid-Century Modern Office Chairs and Desk Chairs
Steel
1960s Italian Vintage Mid-Century Modern Office Chairs and Desk Chairs
Steel
1960s European Vintage Mid-Century Modern Office Chairs and Desk Chairs
Metal, Chrome
20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Office Chairs and Desk Chairs
Leather
1970s German Vintage Mid-Century Modern Office Chairs and Desk Chairs
Metal
1950s Danish Vintage Mid-Century Modern Office Chairs and Desk Chairs
Plywood
1970s American Vintage Mid-Century Modern Office Chairs and Desk Chairs
Chrome
1950s German Vintage Mid-Century Modern Office Chairs and Desk Chairs
Chrome, Metal
1960s German Vintage Mid-Century Modern Office Chairs and Desk Chairs
Leather, Wood
Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Office Chairs and Desk Chairs
Walnut
1980s American Vintage Mid-Century Modern Office Chairs and Desk Chairs
Chrome
20th Century Polish Mid-Century Modern Office Chairs and Desk Chairs
Metal
Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Office Chairs and Desk Chairs
Wood, Ash
1960s American Vintage Mid-Century Modern Office Chairs and Desk Chairs
Steel
21st Century and Contemporary Dutch Mid-Century Modern Office Chairs and Desk Chairs
Steel
1970s Central American Vintage Mid-Century Modern Office Chairs and Desk Chairs
Aluminum
1970s American Vintage Mid-Century Modern Office Chairs and Desk Chairs
Steel
1960s American Vintage Mid-Century Modern Office Chairs and Desk Chairs
Metal
1940s Belgian Vintage Mid-Century Modern Office Chairs and Desk Chairs
Wool, Cherry
Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Office Chairs and Desk Chairs
Fiberglass
1970s European Vintage Mid-Century Modern Office Chairs and Desk Chairs
Aluminum
1970s European Vintage Mid-Century Modern Office Chairs and Desk Chairs
Aluminum
Mid-20th Century North American Mid-Century Modern Office Chairs and Desk Chairs
Fabric
Late 20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Office Chairs and Desk Chairs
Chrome
Early 2000s Italian Mid-Century Modern Office Chairs and Desk Chairs
Aluminum
Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Office Chairs and Desk Chairs
Stainless Steel
1960s German Vintage Mid-Century Modern Office Chairs and Desk Chairs
Stainless Steel
1960s Indian Vintage Mid-Century Modern Office Chairs and Desk Chairs
Cane, Teak
1970s Vintage Mid-Century Modern Office Chairs and Desk Chairs
Chrome
21st Century and Contemporary American Mid-Century Modern Office Chairs and Desk Chairs
Metal
2010s Thai Mid-Century Modern Office Chairs and Desk Chairs
Brass
1970s American Vintage Mid-Century Modern Office Chairs and Desk Chairs
Aluminum
21st Century and Contemporary Asian Mid-Century Modern Office Chairs and Desk Chairs
Metal
1960s German Vintage Mid-Century Modern Office Chairs and Desk Chairs
Metal
1970s North American Vintage Mid-Century Modern Office Chairs and Desk Chairs
Leather
1960s Italian Vintage Mid-Century Modern Office Chairs and Desk Chairs
Aluminum
1970s American Vintage Mid-Century Modern Office Chairs and Desk Chairs
Chrome
2010s Swiss Mid-Century Modern Office Chairs and Desk Chairs
Aluminum, Chrome
21st Century and Contemporary American Mid-Century Modern Office Chairs and Desk Chairs
Chrome
1980s American Vintage Mid-Century Modern Office Chairs and Desk Chairs
Stainless Steel
Late 20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Office Chairs and Desk Chairs
Mid-20th Century Dutch Mid-Century Modern Office Chairs and Desk Chairs
Steel
Late 20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Office Chairs and Desk Chairs
Chrome
Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Office Chairs and Desk Chairs
Metal
1950s Vintage Mid-Century Modern Office Chairs and Desk Chairs
Aluminum
1970s Italian Vintage Mid-Century Modern Office Chairs and Desk Chairs
Chrome
Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Office Chairs and Desk Chairs
Metal
1960s Vintage Mid-Century Modern Office Chairs and Desk Chairs
Metal, Chrome
1950s Vintage Mid-Century Modern Office Chairs and Desk Chairs
Aluminum
2010s Thai Mid-Century Modern Office Chairs and Desk Chairs
Brass
1950s American Vintage Mid-Century Modern Office Chairs and Desk Chairs
Aluminum
1950s American Vintage Mid-Century Modern Office Chairs and Desk Chairs
Aluminum
1960s German Vintage Mid-Century Modern Office Chairs and Desk Chairs
Steel
1980s American Vintage Mid-Century Modern Office Chairs and Desk Chairs
Chrome
1970s American Vintage Mid-Century Modern Office Chairs and Desk Chairs
Chrome
1960s Dutch Vintage Mid-Century Modern Office Chairs and Desk Chairs
Metal
1970s Dutch Vintage Mid-Century Modern Office Chairs and Desk Chairs
Plastic