Mid-Century Modern Center Tables
Organically shaped, clean-lined and elegantly simple are three terms that well describe 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.
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 American 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 Center Tables
Stone, Slate, Metal
20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Center Tables
Stone, Travertine, Marble
1950s Austrian Vintage Mid-Century Modern Center Tables
Formica, Cherry
1970s Italian Vintage Mid-Century Modern Center Tables
Wood
Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Center Tables
Iron
20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Center Tables
Chrome
20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Center Tables
Steel
1970s Italian Vintage Mid-Century Modern Center Tables
Stainless Steel
20th Century Unknown Mid-Century Modern Center Tables
Brass
1960s Dutch Vintage Mid-Century Modern Center Tables
Stone
Mid-20th Century North American Mid-Century Modern Center Tables
Chrome
Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Center Tables
Metal, Chrome
20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Center Tables
Shell
Late 20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Center Tables
Glass, Hardwood
Mid-20th Century British Mid-Century Modern Center Tables
Brass
20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Center Tables
1970s French Vintage Mid-Century Modern Center Tables
Chrome, Brass
1970s Italian Vintage Mid-Century Modern Center Tables
Brass, Chrome
20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Center Tables
Granite, Chrome
Mid-20th Century French Mid-Century Modern Center Tables
Iron
20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Center Tables
Brass
2010s Dutch Mid-Century Modern Center Tables
Bamboo, Glass
1970s Dutch Vintage Mid-Century Modern Center Tables
Glass, Wood
20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Center Tables
1970s Dutch Vintage Mid-Century Modern Center Tables
Chrome
20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Center Tables
Brass, Chrome
Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Center Tables
Copper
Mid-20th Century Brazilian Mid-Century Modern Center Tables
Glass, Wood
1970s Dutch Vintage Mid-Century Modern Center Tables
Chrome
20th Century Unknown Mid-Century Modern Center Tables
Reed
1950s Italian Vintage Mid-Century Modern Center Tables
Brass
1970s French Vintage Mid-Century Modern Center Tables
Chrome
20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Center Tables
Travertine
1940s American Vintage Mid-Century Modern Center Tables
Glass
20th Century European Mid-Century Modern Center Tables
Metal
2010s Spanish Mid-Century Modern Center Tables
Oak
20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Center Tables
Travertine, Brass
21st Century and Contemporary Mexican Mid-Century Modern Center Tables
Marble
1950s French Vintage Mid-Century Modern Center Tables
Iron
1960s American Vintage Mid-Century Modern Center Tables
Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Center Tables
Glass
1950s French Vintage Mid-Century Modern Center Tables
Oak
1980s Italian Vintage Mid-Century Modern Center Tables
Wood
1960s Mexican Vintage Mid-Century Modern Center Tables
Precious Stone
20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Center Tables
Metal
21st Century and Contemporary Portuguese Mid-Century Modern Center Tables
Marble, Brass
1950s Italian Vintage Mid-Century Modern Center Tables
Brass, Iron
1950s Italian Vintage Mid-Century Modern Center Tables
Marble, Aluminum
Mid-20th Century French Mid-Century Modern Center Tables
Steel
1960s Italian Vintage Mid-Century Modern Center Tables
Marble
20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Center Tables
Brass
1960s Danish Vintage Mid-Century Modern Center Tables
Aluminum
1950s Italian Vintage Mid-Century Modern Center Tables
Formica, Wood
1960s Danish Vintage Mid-Century Modern Center Tables
Metal
20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Center Tables
Horn, Glass, Lucite
1970s Dutch Vintage Mid-Century Modern Center Tables
Stone, Metal