Mid-Century Modern Centerpieces
MID-CENTURY MODERN STYLE
Organically shaped, clean-lined and elegantly simple are three terms that well describe vintage mid-century modern furniture. The style, which emerged primarily in the years following World War II, is characterized by pieces that were conceived and made in an energetic, optimistic spirit by creators who believed that good design was an essential part of good living.
ORIGINS OF MID-CENTURY MODERN FURNITURE DESIGN
- Emerged during the mid-20th century
- Informed by European modernism, Bauhaus, International style, Scandinavian modernism and Frank Lloyd Wright’s architecture
- A heyday of innovation in postwar America
- Experimentation with new ideas, new materials and new forms flourished in Scandinavia, Italy, the former Czechoslovakia and elsewhere in Europe
CHARACTERISTICS OF MID-CENTURY MODERN FURNITURE DESIGN
- Simplicity, organic forms, clean lines
- A blend of neutral and bold Pop art colors
- Use of natural and man-made materials — alluring woods such as teak, rosewood and oak; steel, fiberglass and molded plywood
- Light-filled spaces with colorful upholstery
- Glass walls and an emphasis on the outdoors
- Promotion of functionality
MID-CENTURY MODERN FURNITURE DESIGNERS TO KNOW
- Charles and Ray Eames
- Eero Saarinen
- Milo Baughman
- Florence Knoll
- Harry Bertoia
- Isamu Noguchi
- George Nelson
- Danish modernists Hans Wegner and Arne Jacobsen, whose emphasis on natural materials and craftsmanship influenced American designers and vice versa
ICONIC MID-CENTURY MODERN FURNITURE DESIGNS
- Eames lounge chair
- Nelson daybed
- Florence Knoll sofa
- Egg chair
- Womb chair
- Noguchi coffee table
- Barcelona chair
VINTAGE MID-CENTURY MODERN FURNITURE ON 1STDIBS
The mid-century modern era saw leagues of postwar American architects and designers animated by new ideas and new technology. The lean, functionalist International-style architecture of Le Corbusier and Bauhaus eminences Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Walter Gropius had been promoted in the United States during the 1930s by Philip Johnson and others. New building techniques, such as “post-and-beam” construction, allowed the International-style schemes to be realized on a small scale in open-plan houses with long walls of glass.
Materials developed for wartime use became available for domestic goods and were incorporated into mid-century modern furniture designs. Charles and Ray Eames and Eero Saarinen, who had experimented extensively with molded plywood, eagerly embraced fiberglass for pieces such as the La Chaise and the Womb chair, respectively.
Architect, writer and designer George Nelson created with his team shades for the Bubble lamp using a new translucent polymer skin and, as design director at Herman Miller, recruited the Eameses, Alexander Girard and others for projects at the legendary Michigan furniture manufacturer.
Harry Bertoia and Isamu Noguchi devised chairs and tables built of wire mesh and wire struts. Materials were repurposed too: The Danish-born designer Jens Risom created a line of chairs using surplus parachute straps for webbed seats and backrests.
The Risom lounge chair was among the first pieces of furniture commissioned and produced by legendary manufacturer Knoll, a chief influencer in the rise of modern design in the United States, thanks to the work of Florence Knoll, the pioneering architect and designer who made the firm a leader in its field. The seating that Knoll created for office spaces — as well as pieces designed by Florence initially for commercial clients — soon became desirable for the home.
As the demand for casual, uncluttered furnishings grew, more mid-century furniture designers caught the spirit.
Classically oriented creators such as Edward Wormley, house designer for Dunbar Inc., offered such pieces as the sinuous Listen to Me chaise; the British expatriate T.H. Robsjohn-Gibbings switched gears, creating items such as the tiered, biomorphic Mesa table. There were Young Turks such as Paul McCobb, who designed holistic groups of sleek, blond wood furniture, and Milo Baughman, who espoused a West Coast aesthetic in minimalist teak dining tables and lushly upholstered chairs and sofas with angular steel frames.
As the collection of vintage mid-century modern chairs, dressers, coffee tables and other furniture for the living room, dining room, bedroom and elsewhere on 1stDibs demonstrates, this period saw one of the most delightful and dramatic flowerings of creativity in design history.
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Style: Mid-Century Modern
Creator: Fontana Arte
Italian mid-century modern Sail object holder Centerpiece by Fontana Arte, 1960s
By Fontana Arte
Located in MIlano, IT
Italian mid-century modern Sail-shaped object holder or Centerpiece by Fontana Arte, 1960s
Sail-shaped object holder made entirely of thick, water-green glass. The tips of the triang...
Category
1960s Italian Vintage Mid-Century Modern Centerpieces
Materials
Glass
Max Ingrand centerpiece Model 2331 for Fontana Arte, Italy, 1960s
Located in Chiavari, Liguria
An elegant centerpiece crafted in faceted crystal, burnished brass, and nickel-plated brass, model 2331 from the prestigious Fontana Arte manufacturing, designed by the renowned Max ...
Category
1960s Italian Vintage Mid-Century Modern Centerpieces
Materials
Brass
Ettore Sottsass for Fontana Arte Vase Model 2665
Located in New York, NY
Ettore Sottsass for Fontana Arte rare large graphic colored crystal vase consisting of dark blue central square cylinder with attached brown tria...
Category
1970s Italian Vintage Mid-Century Modern Centerpieces
Materials
Art Glass
20th Century Fontana Arte Max Ingrand Centerpiece 2039 in Colored Glass
Located in Turin, Turin
Very beautiful Centerpiece designed by Max Ingrand for Fontana Arte, model 2039, designed in '60s. The Bowl has a base in silvered metal and then it is entirely in colored glass (ora...
Category
1960s Italian Vintage Mid-Century Modern Centerpieces
Materials
Metal
Fontana Arte 1960's Large Smoke Grey Curved Glass Centrepiece Tray
By Fontana Arte
Located in New York, NY
Fontana Arte 1960's large smoke grey glass centerpiece tray, with beveled curved edges. Signed with white acid stamp on bottom, Fontana Arte.
Category
Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Centerpieces
Materials
Art Glass
Fontana Arte Italian Mid-Century Modern Crystal Ashtray or Centrepiece, 1950s
By Fontana Arte
Located in Reggio Emilia, IT
Italian midcentury tray of coins, ashtray or centrepiece in cut crystal produced by Fontana Arte, 1950s.
Please note that the item is original of the period and this shows normal si...
Category
1950s Italian Vintage Mid-Century Modern Centerpieces
Materials
Crystal
Fontana Arte Lidded Glass Bowl by Max Ingrand.Signed
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Glass and metal covered dish by Fontana Arte , model 2004,circa 1960"s designed by Max Ingrand.
Category
1960s Italian Vintage Mid-Century Modern Centerpieces
Materials
Glass
Fontana Arte Empty Pocket or Ashtray, Italy 1950s
By Fontana Arte
Located in Naples, IT
Fontana Arte, pocket tray or ash tray or centerpiece in cut glass circular base with four concave circles inside from 1950s.
Category
1950s Italian Vintage Mid-Century Modern Centerpieces
Materials
Glass
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Midcentury Pietro Chiesa Carved Crystal Glass Italian Ashtray for Fontana Arte
Located in Roma, IT
Amazing midcentury carved crystal glass ashtray. This wonderful item was designed by Pietro Chiesa for Fontana Arte in Italy during 1960s.
This piece is unique as it has two carved sides and two straight ones and tone of the crystal, that is a very elegant water marine.
A perfect bowl to complete a midcentury-style living room or entrance.
Measures (cms):
width - 20
depth - 20
height - 2
Pietro Chiesa (1892-1948) was an Italian designer who specialised in modernist and Art Deco designs. Chiesa was one of the founding members of FontanaArte which was established in 1932, and as its artistic director, he designed hundreds of items ranging from furniture to objets d’art. A member of the Swiss Ticino family of artists, Chiesa is best known for his glass furnishing pieces, such as the Fontana table.
Fontana Arte (established in 1933) was founded by Luigi Fontana, Gio Ponti, and Pietro Chiesa as a premier producer and marketer of furniture, lighting, and furnishing accessories, and distignuished itself applying the highest standards of glass craftsmanship and techniques. Throughout Fontana Arte’s history, its lamps and furniture have been highly sought after due to their superior glass craftsmanship and innovative design.
Saint-Gobain Invests in Luigi Fontanta e Compagni
The origins of Fontana Arte go back to 1881, when Luigi Fontana established Luigi Fontana e Compagni to produce and market sheet glass for the construction industry. Luigi’s success as an entrepreneur in the growing Italian construction sector attracted the attention of the French glass-making company Saint-Gobain, which, in 1910, took a majority stake in the ownership of Luigi Fontana e Compagni transforming it into a “Società Anonima” still under the direction of Luigi Fontana. By the mid-1920s, Fontana e Compagni’s capabilities included the creation of artistic stained glass that was mostly used in functional and decorative settings of churches and cathedrals.
Gio Ponti Becomes Fontana e Compagni’s Artistic Director
In just a few years, the production of such artistic stained-glass products had become of such importance that a different division within the Fontana e Compagni was created to further its development. In 1930, Luigi Fontana met the successful young Milanese architect Gio Ponti, who was then the art director of Richard-Ginori pottery company, and they formed a partnership, under the name of Luigi Fontana SA, for the production of light fixtures, furniture, and furnishing objects. During this initial period, Gio Ponti designed from Fontana Arte the now-iconic 0024 Pendant light (1931) and the Bilia Table Lamp (1931).
Pietro Chiesa, Gio Ponti, and Luigi Fontana Found Fontana Arte
In 1932, Gio Ponti approached Pietro Chiesa to join him and Luigi Fontana and to become Luigi Fontana SA’s artistic director. In 1933, Pietro Chiesa merged his studio, the Bottega di Pietro Chiesa, with Fontana SA, and together Luigi Fontana, Gio Ponti, and Chiesa founded Fontana Arte. During Chiesa’s tenure as artistic director, Fontana Arte’s production became rich and varied. It included furniture, tables, mirrors, sculptures, and stained glass, but it was certainly in the lighting sector where Fontana Arte excelled by creating lamps and lights with the highest standards in glass craftsmanship and modern designs. From this period came the Luminator floor lamp, the Cartoccio glass vase, and the Fontana Arte table made out of a single band of bent clear glass, (all designed by Pietro Chiesa, in 1932); and the Naska lamp...
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Previously Available Items
Green Fruit Bowl by Max Ingrand for Fontana Arte, 'Model 1419', circa 1960
Located in London, GB
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H 3.55 in W 20.87 in D 13.39 in
Fontana Arte Green Glass Centerpiece, Italy, 1970s
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Fontana Arte Curved Crystal Centerpiece, Italy, 1950s
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Mid-century Modern centerpieces for sale on 1stDibs.
Find a broad range of unique Mid-Century Modern centerpieces 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 centerpieces created in this style to your space, the works available on 1stDibs include serveware, ceramics, silver and glass, decorative objects, folk art and other home furnishings, frequently crafted with glass, murano glass and other materials. If you’re shopping for used Mid-Century Modern centerpieces made in a specific country, there are Europe, Italy, and North America pieces for sale on 1stDibs. While there are many designers and brands associated with original centerpieces, popular names associated with this style include Cenedese, Fratelli Toso, Archimede Seguso, and Antonio da Ros. 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 centerpieces differ depending upon multiple factors, including designer, materials, construction methods, condition and provenance. On 1stDibs, the price for these items starts at $71 and tops out at $28,368 while the average work can sell for $1,055.
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