Modern Centerpieces
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 The modernists rejected both natural and historical references and relied primarily on industrial materials such as metal, glass, plywood, and, later, plastics.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 Turkish Modern Centerpieces
Sheet Metal
2010s Dutch Modern Centerpieces
Marble
21st Century and Contemporary American Modern Centerpieces
Stainless Steel
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Centerpieces
Glass
Mid-20th Century Mexican Modern Centerpieces
Silver
1980s Spanish Vintage Modern Centerpieces
Aluminum, Brass
21st Century and Contemporary British Modern Centerpieces
Cast Stone
Early 1900s German Antique Modern Centerpieces
Crystal
2010s Italian Modern Centerpieces
Porcelain
20th Century Swiss Modern Centerpieces
Ceramic
Early 1900s French Antique Modern Centerpieces
Crystal, Bronze
Early 1900s German Antique Modern Centerpieces
Crystal, Metal
1970s Italian Vintage Modern Centerpieces
Plastic
2010s British Modern Centerpieces
Art Glass, Blown Glass
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Centerpieces
Murano Glass