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 The modernists rejected both natural and historical references and relied primarily on industrial materials such as metal, glass, plywood, and, later, plastics.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.
2010s American Modern Desk Accessories
Brass
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Desk Accessories
Marble
21st Century and Contemporary Spanish Modern Desk Accessories
Ceramic, Stoneware, Terracotta
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Desk Accessories
Aluminum
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Desk Accessories
Aluminum
2010s American Modern Desk Accessories
Brass
2010s Italian Modern Desk Accessories
Stone, Limestone
2010s Argentine Modern Desk Accessories
Onyx, Stone, Metal
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Desk Accessories
Birdseye Maple
1970s German Vintage Modern Desk Accessories
Porcelain
1970s Italian Vintage Modern Desk Accessories
Onyx, Marble
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Desk Accessories
Steel, Brass
21st Century and Contemporary Austrian Modern Desk Accessories
Brass
1960s Italian Vintage Modern Desk Accessories
Metal, Nickel
Late 20th Century American Modern Desk Accessories
Sterling Silver
21st Century and Contemporary Austrian Modern Desk Accessories
Brass
20th Century Modern Desk Accessories
Metal, Sterling Silver
Early 20th Century French Modern Desk Accessories
Bronze
1970s Italian Vintage Modern Desk Accessories
Brass
19th Century English Antique Modern Desk Accessories
Brass
Mid-20th Century Italian Modern Desk Accessories
Brass, Metal
Early 20th Century English Modern Desk Accessories
Nickel
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Desk Accessories
Stainless Steel