Modern Desk Accessories
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 The modernists rejected both natural and historical references and relied primarily on industrial materials such as metal, glass, plywood, and, later, plastics.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.
Early 2000s German Modern Desk Accessories
Porcelain
2010s Mexican Modern Desk Accessories
Resin
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Desk Accessories
Plastic
2010s Mexican Modern Desk Accessories
Resin
21st Century and Contemporary Spanish Modern Desk Accessories
Ceramic
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Desk Accessories
Brass
Early 20th Century French Modern Desk Accessories
Bronze
Early 20th Century European Modern Desk Accessories
Metal
1990s Italian Modern Desk Accessories
Porcelain
21st Century and Contemporary Spanish Modern Desk Accessories
Ceramic
Late 20th Century Modern Desk Accessories
Resin
2010s Italian Modern Desk Accessories
Metal
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Desk Accessories
Glass
Early 20th Century American Modern Desk Accessories
Marble, Bronze
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Desk Accessories
Brass
Mid-20th Century Italian Modern Desk Accessories
Gold Leaf
Late 20th Century Japanese Modern Desk Accessories
Blown Glass
2010s Mexican Modern Desk Accessories
Resin
1980s American Vintage Modern Desk Accessories
Lucite
21st Century and Contemporary Modern Desk Accessories
Crystal
21st Century and Contemporary Greek Modern Desk Accessories
Composition
2010s American Modern Desk Accessories
Lucite
1970s European Vintage Modern Desk Accessories
Blown Glass, Lucite
1980s Philippine Vintage Modern Desk Accessories
Stone
1970s European Vintage Modern Desk Accessories
Lucite
2010s American Modern Desk Accessories
Enamel, Steel
1970s Italian Vintage Modern Desk Accessories
Lucite