Mid-Century Modern Ceramics
Organically shaped, clean-lined and elegantly simple are three terms that well describe vintage mid-century modern American 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.
Postwar American architects and designers were animated by new ideas and new technology. The lean, functionalist “International Style” architecture of Le Corbusier and Bauhaus eminences such as Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Walter Gropius had been promoted in the United States during the ’30s 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, respectively, pieces such as the La Chaise and the Womb chair. George Nelson and his design team created Bubble lamp shades using a new translucent polymer skin. Harry Bertoia and Isamu Noguchi devised chairs and tables built of wire mesh and wire struts. Materials were re-purposed: the Danish-born designer Jens Risom created a line of chairs that used 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 influence 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.
As the demand for casual, uncluttered furnishings grew, more mid-century 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, blonde-wood furniture — and Milo Baughman, who espoused a West Coast aesthetic in lushly upholstered chairs and sofas with angular steel frames.
As the collection of vintage mid-century modern chairs, dressers, coffee tables and other furniture on 1stDibs demonstrates, this period saw one of the most delightful and dramatic flowerings of creativity in design history.
Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Ceramics
Pottery
20th Century French Mid-Century Modern Ceramics
Ceramic
1950s French Vintage Mid-Century Modern Ceramics
Wood, Ceramic
1950s Swedish Vintage Mid-Century Modern Ceramics
Ceramic
1960s Japanese Vintage Mid-Century Modern Ceramics
Pottery
1960s Japanese Vintage Mid-Century Modern Ceramics
Pottery
20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Ceramics
Ceramic
Mid-20th Century German Mid-Century Modern Ceramics
Ceramic
1960s Swedish Vintage Mid-Century Modern Ceramics
Ceramic
1950s French Vintage Mid-Century Modern Ceramics
Ceramic
Mid-20th Century Polish Mid-Century Modern Ceramics
Metal
1960s German Vintage Mid-Century Modern Ceramics
Ceramic
20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Ceramics
Cast Stone
1950s French Vintage Mid-Century Modern Ceramics
Ceramic
Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Ceramics
Metal
1960s Danish Vintage Mid-Century Modern Ceramics
Ceramic, Stoneware
1950s French Vintage Mid-Century Modern Ceramics
Ceramic
1970s Belgian Vintage Mid-Century Modern Ceramics
Ceramic
Mid-20th Century Danish Mid-Century Modern Ceramics
Ceramic, Porcelain
20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Ceramics
Ceramic, Terracotta
Mid-20th Century Polish Mid-Century Modern Ceramics
Metal
Mid-20th Century Swedish Mid-Century Modern Ceramics
Blown Glass
1950s French Vintage Mid-Century Modern Ceramics
Ceramic
1950s French Vintage Mid-Century Modern Ceramics
Ceramic
1950s French Vintage Mid-Century Modern Ceramics
Ceramic
1950s French Vintage Mid-Century Modern Ceramics
Ceramic
1950s French Vintage Mid-Century Modern Ceramics
Ceramic
1960s Belgian Vintage Mid-Century Modern Ceramics
Ceramic
1950s French Vintage Mid-Century Modern Ceramics
Metal
1960s Belgian Vintage Mid-Century Modern Ceramics
Ceramic
1950s Portuguese Vintage Mid-Century Modern Ceramics
Ceramic
Mid-20th Century Swedish Mid-Century Modern Ceramics
Silver
1970s Italian Vintage Mid-Century Modern Ceramics
Ceramic
Mid-20th Century Swedish Mid-Century Modern Ceramics
Silver
Mid-20th Century Swedish Mid-Century Modern Ceramics
Silver
1950s French Vintage Mid-Century Modern Ceramics
Ceramic
1950s French Vintage Mid-Century Modern Ceramics
Ceramic
Mid-20th Century Swedish Mid-Century Modern Ceramics
Silver
1960s Italian Vintage Mid-Century Modern Ceramics
Ceramic
1950s European Vintage Mid-Century Modern Ceramics
Ceramic
Mid-20th Century Swedish Mid-Century Modern Ceramics
Ceramic
Mid-20th Century Danish Mid-Century Modern Ceramics
Ceramic, Pottery, Stoneware
Mid-20th Century Swedish Mid-Century Modern Ceramics
Silver
1960s German Vintage Mid-Century Modern Ceramics
Ceramic, Mirror
Mid-20th Century Scandinavian Mid-Century Modern Ceramics
Ceramic, Pottery, Stoneware
19th Century Italian Antique Mid-Century Modern Ceramics
Gold
Mid-20th Century European Mid-Century Modern Ceramics
Ceramic
Mid-20th Century Mid-Century Modern Ceramics
Silver
Mid-20th Century German Mid-Century Modern Ceramics
Ceramic
1950s French Vintage Mid-Century Modern Ceramics
Ceramic
Mid-20th Century German Mid-Century Modern Ceramics
Ceramic
1960s European Vintage Mid-Century Modern Ceramics
Ceramic
1970s Danish Vintage Mid-Century Modern Ceramics
Ceramic
21st Century and Contemporary American Mid-Century Modern Ceramics
Ceramic, Clay, Stoneware
21st Century and Contemporary American Mid-Century Modern Ceramics
Ceramic, Clay, Stoneware
Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Ceramics
Crystal
Mid-20th Century Swedish Mid-Century Modern Ceramics
Silver
Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Ceramics
Glass