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Modern Decorative Baskets

MODERN STYLE

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 The modernists rejected both natural and historical references and relied primarily on industrial materials such as metal, glass, plywood, and, later, plastics.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 chaircrafted 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.

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Style: Modern
Rubber Tire Bucket
Located in Chicago, IL
A chic and modern two-handled bucket made from an old rubber tire, sewn with heavy-gauge white string and aluminum rivets. Perfect as your wastepaper basket in your bathroom or next ...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Unknown Modern Decorative Baskets

Materials

Rubber

Polished Brass Wastebasket by Karl Springer
Located in Palm Springs, CA
A glamorous 1980s polish brass and black lacquered wastebasket by Karl Springer. Constructed of solid brass with the inside black lacquered. Newly professionally polished and lacquer...
Category

1980s American Vintage Modern Decorative Baskets

Materials

Brass

Ghidini 1961 Tip Top Small Paper Basket in Rose Gold by Richard Hutten
Located in Villa Carcina, IT
Paper basket in openwork steel When you look at the top view of the Tip-Top series, all the triangles have the same size. In 3D these triangles have been stretched, which creates a ...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Decorative Baskets

Materials

Stainless Steel

Ghidini 1961 Perished Large Bowl in Polished Gold Finish
Located in Brooklyn, NY
Part of the Perished collection, this large bowl was made in steel and its classic conic shape is reinterpreted using contemporary sensibility, thanks to the openwork decorations tha...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Decorative Baskets

Materials

Steel

Ghidini 1961 Tip Top Small Paper Basket in Gold by Richard Hutten
Located in Villa Carcina, IT
Paper basket in openwork steel. When you look at the top view of the Tip Top series, all the triangles have the same size. In 3D these triangles have been stretched, which creates a...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Decorative Baskets

Materials

Stainless Steel

Ghidini 1961 Tip Top Large Paper Basket in Rose Gold Finish
Located in Brooklyn, NY
This elegant large paper basket is in stainless steel. It is part of the Tip Top series which consists of hexagonal pieces made of layers of triangles.
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Decorative Baskets

Materials

Stainless Steel

Ghidini 1961 Cestino 3 Cylinder Bowl in Polished Brass by Andrea Branzi
Located in Villa Carcina, IT
"The dance, intended as an eternal circle and sacred ritual and celebration of the ancient tribal traditions." This is the reference of Andrea Branzi when he thought of this series of three pieces that define these new vase...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Decorative Baskets

Materials

Brass

Ghidini 1961 Tip Top Centre Bowl in Rose Gold Finish
Located in Brooklyn, NY
This elegant bowl is part of the Tip Top collection and was made in stainless steel with a charming copper finish. Its rigorously geometric silhouette is ...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Decorative Baskets

Materials

Stainless Steel

Ghidini 1961 Tip Top Centre Bowl in Polished Gold Finish
Located in Brooklyn, NY
This elegant bowl is part of the Tip Top collection and was made in stainless steel. Its rigorously geometric silhouette is created by the layering of sev...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Decorative Baskets

Materials

Stainless Steel

Ghidini 1961 Tip Top Small Paper Basket in Polished Gold Finish
Located in Brooklyn, NY
This elegant small paper basket is in stainless steel. It is part of the Tip Top series which consists of hexagonal pieces made of layers of triangles.
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Decorative Baskets

Materials

Stainless Steel

1990s Ralph Lauren Free Standing Bamboo Handled Basket or Side Table
Located in Germantown, MD
A versatile use Free Standing Bamboo Handled storage Basket or Side Table attributed to Ralph Lauren and hand crafted in the Phillipines . Measures 19" in width, 19" in depth and s...
Category

Late 20th Century Philippine Modern Decorative Baskets

Materials

Bamboo, Wicker

Karl Springer Gilded Waste Basket 1987 (Signed and Dated)
Located in New York, NY
Waste basket, gilded with flare top, by Karl Springer, American 1987 (label on bottom reads "Karl Springer 1987"). These accessories were custom pieces and quite rare.
Category

1980s American Vintage Modern Decorative Baskets

Materials

Gold Leaf

Italian Modern Brown Plastic Round Basket by Enzo Mari for Danesi, 1970s
Located in MIlano, IT
Italian modern brown plastic round basket by Enzo Mari for Danese, 1970s Basket with round base in dark brown plastic. The container box has two round holes on the sides, in additio...
Category

1970s Italian Vintage Modern Decorative Baskets

Materials

Plastic

"Kogetsudai 'beige'", 2015 Coiled Rope Sculptural Fiber Vessel by Doug Johnston
Located in Brooklyn, NY
"Kogetsudai (beige)", 2015 coiled nylon cord, sewing thread "Kogetsudai (beige)" is one of four works made in the approximate shape of the Kogetsudai gravel mound in the garden of Ginkaku-ji in Kyoto, Japan. Upon my first visit to this garden, I was fascinated with the Kogetsudai, and the more I learned about it the more my interest was piqued. The feature is one of two special gravel mounds there, which are made from fine grey gravel or sand and re-shaped nearly every day by the gardeners. The name translates to something like "moon-viewing platform" but the reason for the name, the shape, and its significance has been lost to history. Some speculate that the name derives from how the top of the cone appears as a silvery moon-like reflection against a sea of gravel at night when viewed from the upper floor of the adjacent Silver Pavilion - and that the shape may be a reference to Mount Fuji. The Kogetsudai at Ginkaku-ji is a "frustum" shape about 2 meters tall and records show it being in its current shape and approximate dimension since the late 1700's. The shape is very powerful but it is made only of moistened sand. I made this series as a way to study the shape and understand its geometry and presence. I wanted to be able to sit with that shape in a room. I made the shape as a vessel to reinforce the idea of the shape itself, rather than as a solid mass. Furthermore, the dedication to the continual rebuilding of the form and object over and over through time, without a need for any "function" other than beauty and cultural continuity, was similar to how I have come to think of the act of vessel-making by humans. We likely inherited vessel-making skills from our pre-sapiens human ancestors, and have continued this activity over hundreds of thousands of years, and in a proliferation of materials from fibers, wood, clay, metal, glass, plastic, and more. Especially since the beginning of the Holocene, a certain amount of vessel making has had no function or purpose other than for cultural continuity and the cultural, formal, craft, and visual aesthetics within the multitude of human cultures. In this series of works, the continuous length of rope coiled into a conical helix also serves as an expression of this continuity through time, perhaps working towards a yet-unknown endpoint or goal, while creating a space that is simultaneously empty and loaded. This work was first exhibited in 2015 at Patrick Parrish Gallery as part of my solo exhibition "what it is". It was later shown at the Haystack Mountain School of Craft in Deer Isle, Maine, as well as several other group exhibitions. It has also appeared in several design and art publications in print and online. Since 2010 Doug Johnston has produced a wide range of functional and sculptural objects using a process of coiling and stitching rope using industrial sewing...
Category

2010s North American Modern Decorative Baskets

Materials

Nylon

"Pitchdrop" 2015 Coiled and Sewn Cotton Fiber Sculpture by Doug Johnston
Located in Brooklyn, NY
-Made in 2015 -Nylon and cotton cord, sewing thread. "Pitchdrop" was made in 2015 as part of a body of work for my exhibition "what it is." It is a sculptural vessel-form object made by coiling and sewing nylon and cotton rope with an industrial zig-zag sewing machine. The piece is not made with a specific form in mind when started, so its shape emerges somewhat organically during its making. Multiple smaller, individual vessels are made, then joined together. More rope is coiled and sewn onto the new form, and new parts are incorporated and built upon from there. This piece features a main body sewn with black nylon cord, which acts as a visual and physical anchor for the object. From this, a series of smaller arm-like appendages grow ni coiled cotton cord. Since 2010 Doug Johnston has produced a wide range of functional and sculptural objects using a process of coiling and stitching rope using industrial sewing machines...
Category

2010s North American Modern Decorative Baskets

Materials

Cotton, Nylon

"Kogetsudai 'black'", 2015 Coiled Rope Sculptural Fiber Vessel by Doug Johnston
Located in Brooklyn, NY
"Kogetsudai (black)", 2015 coiled nylon cord, sewing thread "Kogetsudai (black)" is one of four works made in the approximate shape of the Kogetsudai gravel mound in the garden o...
Category

2010s North American Modern Decorative Baskets

Materials

Nylon

"Kogetsudai (navy)", 2015 Coiled Rope Sculptural Fiber Vessel by Doug Johnston
Located in Brooklyn, NY
"Kogetsudai (navy)", 2015 coiled nylon cord, sewing thread "Kogetsudai (navy)" is one of four works made in the approximate shape of the Kogetsudai gravel mound in the garden of ...
Category

2010s North American Modern Decorative Baskets

Materials

Nylon

"Untitled 'Navy Shroud'" 2015 Sewn Rope Sculptural Fiber Object by Doug Johnston
Located in Brooklyn, NY
"Untitled (Navy Shroud)", 2015 coiled nylon cord, sewing thread, urethane resin "Untitled (Navy Shroud)" was made as part of a group of works exploring objects as shroud spaces. The pieces create a space, the contents unknown, upon which the viewer's understanding becomes one reality, while another reality of the object itself is in continuous withdrawal from the viewers' perception. The exploration was based on contemplations of "Schrödinger's cat" and Object-Oriented Ontology. The work was made by coiling nylon cordage and sewing it together on an industrial zig-zag sewing machine. In the process of coiling, irregularities are introduced that alter the overall form as it is being made. These irregularities are placed and responded to improvisationally, working towards a composition that appears as if a thick cloth is loosely draped over an object of indeterminate form. The interior of the nylon vessel was then coated by hand with a black epoxy resin, which solidified the textile into a rigid shell. The result is a free-standing shroud-like object, which is to be placed into a space as a sculptural object, to conceal other objects, unsightly architectural features, etc. This work was first exhibited in 2015 at Patrick Parrish Gallery as part of my solo exhibition "what it is". It was later shown in 2017-2018 at the Cranbrook Art Museum in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, as well as several other group exhibitions. It has also appeared in several design and art publications in print and online. Since 2010 Doug Johnston has produced a wide range of functional and sculptural objects using a process of coiling and stitching rope using industrial sewing machines...
Category

2010s North American Modern Decorative Baskets

Materials

Nylon, Epoxy Resin

"Untitled Vessel 6" Coiled and Sewn Cotton Fiber Sculpture by Doug Johnston
Located in Brooklyn, NY
-Made in 2015 -cotton cord, and sewing thread. "Untitled (Vessel 6)" was made in 2015 as part of a body of work for my exhibition "what it is." It is a sculptural vessel-form object made by coiling and sewing cotton rope with an industrial zig-zag sewing machine. The piece is not made with a specific form in mind when started, so its shape emerges somewhat organically during its making. Multiple smaller, individual vessels are made, then joined together. More rope is coiled and sewn onto the new form, and new parts are incorporated and built upon from there. This piece features a large base sewn with black-dyed cotton rope, which acts as a visual and physical anchor for the object. The form is simultaneously architectural and creature-like while retaining a conceptual and actual openness. Since 2010 Doug Johnston has produced a wide range of functional and sculptural objects using a process of coiling and stitching rope using industrial sewing machines...
Category

2010s North American Modern Decorative Baskets

Materials

Cotton

Modern decorative baskets for sale on 1stDibs.

Find a broad range of unique Modern decorative baskets for sale on 1stDibs. Many of these items were first offered in the 21st Century and Contemporary, but contemporary artisans have continued to produce works inspired by this style. If you’re looking to add vintage decorative baskets created in this style to your space, the works available on 1stDibs include decorative objects, folk art, serveware, ceramics, silver and glass and other home furnishings, frequently crafted with metal, animal skin and other materials. If you’re shopping for used Modern decorative baskets made in a specific country, there are Europe, Italy, and Germany pieces for sale on 1stDibs. While there are many designers and brands associated with original decorative baskets, popular names associated with this style include Pinetti, Ghidini 1961, Schumacher, and Oscar Maschera. It’s true that these talented designers have at times inspired knockoffs, but our experienced specialists have partnered with only top vetted sellers to offer authentic pieces that come with a buyer protection guarantee. Prices for decorative baskets differ depending upon multiple factors, including designer, materials, construction methods, condition and provenance. On 1stDibs, the price for these items starts at $48 and tops out at $53,469 while the average work can sell for $783.

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