Modern Glass
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 The modernists rejected both natural and historical references and relied primarily on industrial materials such as metal, glass, plywood, and, later, plastics.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.
1950s Italian Vintage Modern Glass
Glass
20th Century Spanish Modern Glass
Glass
Mid-20th Century Italian Modern Glass
Murano Glass
Early 20th Century English Modern Glass
Glass
1950s Italian Vintage Modern Glass
Glass
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Glass
Glass
2010s Italian Modern Glass
Silver
21st Century and Contemporary French Modern Glass
Acrylic
Early 20th Century English Modern Glass
Glass
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Glass
Blown Glass
20th Century British Modern Glass
Blown Glass
Early 2000s Italian Modern Glass
Glass, Art Glass, Blown Glass, Murano Glass, Sommerso, Opaline Glass
20th Century Swedish Modern Glass
Glass
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Glass
Glass
1990s Italian Modern Glass
Blown Glass
20th Century Scottish Modern Glass
Blown Glass
1960s Italian Vintage Modern Glass
Murano Glass
1970s Italian Vintage Modern Glass
Art Glass
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Glass
Glass
21st Century and Contemporary Czech Modern Glass
Glass
1950s Italian Vintage Modern Glass
Murano Glass, Glass
Late 20th Century Italian Modern Glass
Murano Glass
Late 20th Century American Modern Glass
Art Glass
1990s Italian Modern Glass
Murano Glass
20th Century Italian Modern Glass
Glass
Early 2000s Australian Modern Glass
Art Glass
Late 20th Century Modern Glass
Glass, Art Glass
Mid-20th Century Italian Modern Glass
Art Glass, Murano Glass, Blown Glass
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Glass
Blown Glass
2010s Italian Modern Glass
Ceramic
1990s Italian Modern Glass
Blown Glass
1980s Italian Vintage Modern Glass
Art Glass, Blown Glass, Murano Glass
1980s Italian Vintage Modern Glass
Metal
Late 20th Century Italian Modern Glass
Murano Glass
1990s French Modern Glass
Blown Glass
Mid-20th Century Italian Modern Glass
Murano Glass
20th Century Irish Modern Glass
Cut Glass
20th Century American Modern Glass
Glass
1980s Italian Vintage Modern Glass
Blown Glass
1990s American Modern Glass
Acrylic
1980s American Vintage Modern Glass
Glass
21st Century and Contemporary Czech Modern Glass
Glass
20th Century Italian Modern Glass
Glass
Late 20th Century American Modern Glass
Art Glass
21st Century and Contemporary Czech Modern Glass
Glass
1980s English Vintage Modern Glass
Blown Glass
Late 20th Century German Modern Glass
Glass
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Glass
Blown Glass
21st Century and Contemporary Czech Modern Glass
Glass
1970s Italian Vintage Modern Glass
Blown Glass
Late 20th Century Swedish Modern Glass
Art Glass
2010s German Modern Glass
Crystal
1980s English Vintage Modern Glass
Blown Glass
1970s Italian Vintage Modern Glass
Art Glass
Late 20th Century Swedish Modern Glass
Blown Glass
1960s Italian Vintage Modern Glass
Art Glass
Late 20th Century German Modern Glass
Crystal
1980s German Vintage Modern Glass
Blown Glass