Mid-Century Modern Tapestries
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 Spanish Vintage Mid-Century Modern Tapestries
Wool, Jute, Cotton
Mid-20th Century French Mid-Century Modern Tapestries
Textile, Wool
20th Century German Mid-Century Modern Tapestries
Wool
Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Tapestries
Yarn
1970s French Vintage Mid-Century Modern Tapestries
Wool, Cotton
1970s Indian Vintage Mid-Century Modern Tapestries
Cotton, Jute, Wool
1970s Vintage Mid-Century Modern Tapestries
Textile, Wood
Mid-20th Century Unknown Mid-Century Modern Tapestries
Wool
20th Century French Mid-Century Modern Tapestries
Tapestry
1970s Vintage Mid-Century Modern Tapestries
Textile, Wood
21st Century and Contemporary Nepalese Mid-Century Modern Tapestries
Wool
Mid-20th Century French Mid-Century Modern Tapestries
Textile, Canvas, Cotton
Mid-20th Century Unknown Mid-Century Modern Tapestries
Wool
1970s French Vintage Mid-Century Modern Tapestries
Wool
1960s Spanish Vintage Mid-Century Modern Tapestries
Wool, Cotton
20th Century South African Mid-Century Modern Tapestries
Tapestry, Wool
1950s American Vintage Mid-Century Modern Tapestries
Wool, Upholstery
20th Century English Mid-Century Modern Tapestries
Linen
1970s French Vintage Mid-Century Modern Tapestries
Wool
1960s French Vintage Mid-Century Modern Tapestries
Cotton
21st Century and Contemporary Nepalese Mid-Century Modern Tapestries
Wool
Late 20th Century Indian Mid-Century Modern Tapestries
Wool, Jute, Cotton, Wood
1960s French Vintage Mid-Century Modern Tapestries
Cotton, Wool
Mid-20th Century Indian Mid-Century Modern Tapestries
Wool
Late 20th Century German Mid-Century Modern Tapestries
Cotton
1940s French Vintage Mid-Century Modern Tapestries
Wool, Cotton
Mid-20th Century French Mid-Century Modern Tapestries
Canvas, Cotton
1970s American Vintage Mid-Century Modern Tapestries
Wool
Mid-20th Century French Mid-Century Modern Tapestries
Wool
1970s European Vintage Mid-Century Modern Tapestries
Wool, Cotton, Wood
Mid-20th Century French Mid-Century Modern Tapestries
Textile, Cotton
Mid-20th Century French Mid-Century Modern Tapestries
Tapestry, Wool
1950s French Vintage Mid-Century Modern Tapestries
Wool
Mid-20th Century French Mid-Century Modern Tapestries
Wool
1980s European Vintage Mid-Century Modern Tapestries
Fabric
1960s American Vintage Mid-Century Modern Tapestries
Wool
1960s French Vintage Mid-Century Modern Tapestries
Wool
1960s Spanish Vintage Mid-Century Modern Tapestries
Wool, Cotton
1960s Scottish Vintage Mid-Century Modern Tapestries
Wool
1960s American Vintage Mid-Century Modern Tapestries
1950s American Vintage Mid-Century Modern Tapestries
Fabric
1970s American Vintage Mid-Century Modern Tapestries
Cotton, Walnut
Late 20th Century French Mid-Century Modern Tapestries
Wool
1970s German Vintage Mid-Century Modern Tapestries
Fabric
1950s French Vintage Mid-Century Modern Tapestries
Silk
Late 20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Tapestries
Wool
1970s French Vintage Mid-Century Modern Tapestries
Wool
1970s Vintage Mid-Century Modern Tapestries
Textile, Wood
1970s Dutch Vintage Mid-Century Modern Tapestries
Acrylic
Mid-20th Century French Mid-Century Modern Tapestries
Tapestry, Wool
1970s Czech Vintage Mid-Century Modern Tapestries
Wool
1970s Czech Vintage Mid-Century Modern Tapestries
Wool
1960s American Vintage Mid-Century Modern Tapestries
Wool, Bouclé, Cotton
Mid-20th Century French Mid-Century Modern Tapestries
Wool
1970s Vintage Mid-Century Modern Tapestries
Textile, Wood
1970s European Vintage Mid-Century Modern Tapestries
Fabric
1950s American Vintage Mid-Century Modern Tapestries
Cotton
1980s American Vintage Mid-Century Modern Tapestries
Nylon