Modern Furniture
The late 19th and early 20th centuries saw sweeping social change and major scientific advances — both of which contributed to a new aesthetic: modernism. Rejecting the rigidity of Victorian artistic conventions, modernists sought a new means of expression. References to the natural world and ornate classical embellishments gave way to the sleek simplicity of the Machine Age. Architect Philip Johnson characterized the hallmarks of modernism as “machine-like simplicity, smoothness or surface [and] avoidance of ornament.”
Early practitioners of modernist design include the De Stijl (“The Style”) group, founded in the Netherlands in 1917, and the Bauhaus School, founded two years later in Germany.
Followers of both groups produced sleek, spare designs — many of which became icons of daily life in the 20th century. The modernists rejected both natural and historical references and relied primarily on industrial materials such as metal, glass, plywood, and, later, plastics. While Bauhaus principals Marcel Breuer and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe created furniture from mass-produced, chrome-plated steel, American visionaries like Charles and Ray Eames worked in materials as novel as molded plywood and fiberglass. Today, Breuer’s Wassily chair, Mies van der Rohe’s Barcelona chair — crafted with his romantic partner, designer Lilly Reich — and the Eames lounge chair are emblems of progressive design and vintage originals are prized cornerstones of collections.
It’s difficult to overstate the influence that modernism continues to wield over designers and architects — and equally difficult to overstate how revolutionary it was when it first appeared a century ago. But because modernist furniture designs are so simple, they can blend in seamlessly with just about any type of décor. Don’t overlook them.
2010s Thai Modern Furniture
Wood
20th Century Modern Furniture
Marble
2010s Ukrainian Modern Furniture
Steel
2010s Thai Modern Furniture
Iron
2010s Ukrainian Modern Furniture
Steel
2010s Thai Modern Furniture
Iron
2010s Ukrainian Modern Furniture
Steel
2010s Thai Modern Furniture
Wood
2010s Thai Modern Furniture
Wood
2010s Thai Modern Furniture
Wood
2010s Italian Modern Furniture
Marble
1950s American Vintage Modern Furniture
Iron
Late 20th Century American Modern Furniture
Metal
Mid-20th Century French Modern Furniture
Wood
1960s French Vintage Modern Furniture
Wood, Rattan
1990s American Modern Furniture
Brass
21st Century and Contemporary Portuguese Modern Furniture
Brass
Mid-20th Century Japanese Modern Furniture
Iron
21st Century and Contemporary American Modern Furniture
Aluminum
Early 20th Century Chinese Modern Furniture
Rattan, Wood
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Furniture
Steel
Early 19th Century Chinese Antique Modern Furniture
Elm
21st Century and Contemporary British Modern Furniture
Macassar
Early 2000s Modern Furniture
Fabric
20th Century Asian Modern Furniture
Bronze
2010s Italian Modern Furniture
Leather
2010s Italian Modern Furniture
Glass
20th Century Asian Modern Furniture
Bronze
21st Century and Contemporary Chinese Modern Furniture
Elm, Terracotta
Mid-20th Century Indian Modern Furniture
Teak