Postmodern design was a short-lived movement that manifested itself chiefly in Italy and the United States in the early 1980s. The characteristics of vintage postmodern furniture and other postmodern objects and decor for the home included loud-patterned, usually plastic surfaces; strange proportions, vibrant colors and weird angles; and a vague-at-best relationship between form and function.
ORIGINS OF POSTMODERN FURNITURE DESIGN
CHARACTERISTICS OF POSTMODERN FURNITURE DESIGN
POSTMODERN FURNITURE DESIGNERS TO KNOW
VINTAGE POSTMODERN FURNITURE ON 1STDIBS
Critics derided postmodern design as a grandstanding bid for attention and nothing of consequence. Decades later, the fact that postmodernism still has the power to provoke thoughts, along with other reactions, proves they were not entirely correct.
Postmodern design began as an architectural critique. Starting in the 1960s, a small cadre of mainly American architects began to argue that modernism, once high-minded and even noble in its goals, had become stale, stagnant and blandly corporate. Later, in Milan, a cohort of creators led by Ettore Sottsass and Alessandro Mendini — a onetime mentor to Sottsass and a key figure in the Italian Radical movement — brought the discussion to bear on design.
Sottsass, an industrial designer, philosopher and provocateur, gathered a core group of young designers into a collective in 1980 they called Memphis. Members of the Memphis Group, which would come to include Martine Bedin, Michael Graves, Marco Zanini, Shiro Kuramata, Michele de Lucchi and Matteo Thun, saw design as a means of communication, and they wanted it to shout. That it did: The first Memphis collection appeared in 1981 in Milan and broke all the modernist taboos, embracing irony, kitsch, wild ornamentation and bad taste.
Memphis works remain icons of postmodernism: the Sottsass Casablanca bookcase, with its leopard-print plastic veneer; de Lucchi’s First chair, which has been described as having the look of an electronics component; Martine Bedin’s Super lamp: a pull-toy puppy on a power-cord leash. Even though it preceded the Memphis Group’s formal launch, Sottsass’s iconic Ultrafragola mirror — in its conspicuously curved plastic shell with radical pops of pink neon — proves striking in any space and embodies many of the collective’s postmodern ideals.
After the initial Memphis show caused an uproar, the postmodern movement within furniture and interior design quickly took off in America. (Memphis fell out of fashion when the Reagan era gave way to cool 1990’s minimalism.) The architect Robert Venturi had by then already begun a series of plywood chairs for Knoll Inc., with beefy, exaggerated silhouettes of traditional styles such as Queen Anne and Chippendale. In 1982, the new firm Swid Powell enlisted a group of top American architects, including Frank Gehry, Richard Meier, Stanley Tigerman and Venturi to create postmodern tableware in silver, ceramic and glass.
On 1stDibs, the vintage postmodern furniture collection includes chairs, coffee tables, sofas, decorative objects, table lamps and more.
Tree Leaves Candlestick Holder by Evelina Kudabaite Studio
Located in Geneve, CH
Tree leaves candlestick holder by Evelina Kudabaite Studio Handmade Materials: tree leaves, brass Dimensions: H 45 mm x D 105 mm Co...
Brass
Oak Candlestick Holder by Evelina Kudabaite Studio
Located in Geneve, CH
Oak candlestick holder by Evelina Kudabaite Studio Handmade Materials: oak, brass Dimensions: H 45 mm x D 105 mm Colour: dark brown Notes: for dry use Since 2015, product des...
Brass
$1,212 / item
Incisioni Lume Candlestick by Purho
Located in Geneve, CH
Incisioni Lume Candlestick by Purho Dimensions: D6 x H18 cm Materials: Glass Other colours and finishes are available. Purho is a new protagonist of made in Italy design , a wo...
Glass
$4,850 / set
Set of 4 Incisioni Lume Candlesticks by Purho
Located in Geneve, CH
Set of 4 Incisioni Lume candlesticks by Purho Dimensions: D6 x H18 cm each Materials: Glass Other colours and finishes are available. Purho is a new protagonist of made in Ita...
Brass
Porta Velas Galeana Candleholder by Jorge Diego Etienne
Located in Geneve, CH
Porta Velas Galeana candleholder by Jorge Diego Etienne Limited Edition of 10 + 1 AP Dimensions: D 12.5 x W 8.5 x H 7.5 cm Material: alabaster Galeana is a collection of 6 obje...
Alabaster
Partners, Candlestick Small 'A' by Marion Mezenge
Located in Geneve, CH
Partners, candlestick small (A) by Marion Mezenge Dimensions: L 6.2 x H 2 cm Materials: Bronze Also Available: Partners, Candlestick Medium (B) , Partners, Candlestick Large (c)...
Brass
Set of 2 Primus Small Candlesticks by Emanuele Colombi
Located in Geneve, CH
Set of 2 Primus small candlesticks by Emanuele Colombi Limited Edition: 1 out of 12 Dimensions: W 10 x D 10 x H 31.5 cm Materials: Bronze Emanuele Colombi is an architect, int...
Bronze, Other
Set of 2 Steel Bold Candleholders by Radu Abraham
Located in Geneve, CH
Set of 2 steel bold candleholders by Radu Abraham. Materials: Steel. Dimensions: D6 x H12cm. 2 piece candle holder; can be used with multiple types of candles or with standard c...
Steel
$168 / item
Steel Simple Candleholder by Radu Abraham
Located in Geneve, CH
Steel another candleholder by Radu Abraham Materials: steel Dimensions: D7 x H11cm 2 Piece candle holder; can be used with multiple types of candles or with standard candle pill...
Steel
Set of 2 Steel Together Candleholders by Radu Abraham
Located in Geneve, CH
Set of 2 steel together candleholders by Radu Abraham. Materials: Steel Dimensions: D8 x H20cm. A pair of the previous 2 candle holders (steel another and steel one); can be use...
Steel
Set of 2 Steel One Candleholders by Radu Abraham
Located in Geneve, CH
Set of 2 steel one candleholders by Radu Abraham. Materials: Steel Dimensions: D 6 x H 14cm. 3 piece candle holder; can be used with multiple types of candles or with standard c...
Steel
$194 / item
Steel Bold Candleholder by Radu Abraham
Located in Geneve, CH
Steel bold candleholder by Radu Abraham Materials: Steel Dimensions: D6 x H13cm 2 piece candle holder; can be used with multiple types of candles or with standard candle pill; i...
Steel
$246 / item
Steel One Candleholder by Radu Abraham
Located in Geneve, CH
Steel one candleholder by Radu Abraham. Materials: Steel. Dimensions: D6 x H14cm. 3 piece candle holder; can be used with multiple types of candles or with standard candle pill;...
Steel
$1,074 / set
Instruments Brass Candlerholder Set by Homefolks
Located in Geneve, CH
Instruments brass candlerholder set by Homefolks Limited edition Dimensions: D 5.8 x W 10.8 x H 5.3 cm (each) Materials: brass Featuring key-like handles and geometric shapes, ...
Brass
$1,801 / item
Brass Circle Candleholder by Gentner Design
Located in Geneve, CH
Brass circle candleholder by Gentner Design Dimensions: D 22.8 x W 5.7 x H 31.7 cm Materials: brass Gentner Design Rooted in a language of sculpture, character defining details, and world renowned craftsmanship, the work is found at the crossroads of design and art. Established in 2011, the namesake furniture label is a rare combination of aesthetic dexterity and mastery of craft resulting in furniture and objects that are expressive, formal, and transcend materiality. The collection is based in metal and incorporates only natural materials such as leather, wood, and glass in unique ways, challenging our assumptions. Christopher Gentner Christopher Gentner, with a BFA in metalsmithing from the Cleveland Institute of Art and apprenticeships under sculptors and jewelers, together with dedication to craft, quickly developed his reputation nationally as a foremost authority of metal fabrication and furniture. One of his crowning achievements was the re-creation and fabrication of the Frank Lloyd Wright Robie...
Brass
Large Pillar Darkened Brass Candlestick by Gentner Design
Located in Geneve, CH
Large Pillar darkened brass candlestick by Gentner Design. Dimensions: D 3.8 x H 21.7 cm Materials: darkened brass. Available in brush raw brass and dark...
Brass
Small Pillar Brass Candlestick by Gentner Design
Located in Geneve, CH
Small Pillar brass candlestick by Gentner Design Dimensions: D 3.8 x H 13.8 cm Materials: brush raw brass Available in brush raw brass and darkened brass...
Brass
Large Pillar Brass Candlestick by Gentner Design
Located in Geneve, CH
Large Pillar brass candlestick by Gentner Design Dimensions: D 3.8 x H 21.7 cm Materials: brush raw brass Available in brush raw brass and darkened brass...
Brass
Small Pin Darkened Brass Candlestick by Gentner Design
Located in Geneve, CH
Small pin darkened brass candlestick by Gentner Design Dimensions: D 12.7 x H 30.5 cm Materials: darkened brass Available in polished tarnished brass and da...
Brass
$1,553 / item
Pearl Candle Holder by Ana Botezatu
Located in Geneve, CH
Pearl candle holder by Ana Botezatu. Dimensions: D 26.5 x W 21 x H 22 cm. Materials: glazed earthenware. Ana Botezatu (b. 1982, Bra?ov (former Kronstadt), Romania) lives and wor...
Earthenware
$1,553 / item
Medusa Candle Holder by Ana Botezatu
Located in Geneve, CH
Medusa candle holder by Ana Botezatu. Dimensions: D 25 x W 19 x H 23.5 cm. Materials: tin glazed earthenware. Ana Botezatu (b. 1982, Bra?ov (former ...
Tin