Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps

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

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.

Style: Mid-Century Modern

Creator: Marshall Studios

1960s Gordon Jane Martz Marshall Studios Incised Table Lamp

By Marshall Studios, Gordon & Jane Martz

Located in Baltimore, MD

Rare hard to find vintage 1960s incised stoneware pottery table lamp designed by ceramicist husband and wife duo Jane and Gordon Martz of Marshall Studios, in Veedersburg, Indiana. The incised motif was first issued in catalog 16 from the 60s. This distinct design was publicized in the Marshall Studios 1974 Catalog No.35. The stoneware is rendered in deep gold, with a tan abstract incised motif. The base is slip-cast and then dipped into glaze. Signed “Martz” on the lower backside. It features their classic slightly tapered cylindrical ceramic base with original final and original drum shade, incised motif detail at the top, the design also consists of a magnificent teak neck with matching classic Martz teak finial, opting for an upgrade from walnut. Martz incised...

Category

1960s American Vintage Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps

Materials

Ceramic, Teak

1960s Gordon Jane Martz Marshall Studios Incised Table Lamp

Martz Lamp by Jane and Gordon Martz for Marshall Studios, Ceramic Table Lamp

Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps

1960s American Vintage Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps

1960s Gordon Jane Martz Marshall Studios Incised Table Lamp

1970s American Vintage Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps

Martz Lamp by Jane and Gordon Martz for Marshall Studios, Ceramic Table Lamp

1970s American Vintage Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps

Martz Lamps by Jane and Gordon Martz for Marshall Studios, Ceramic Table Lamps

1970s American Vintage Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps

Jane and Gordon Martz Large Ceramic Table Lamp

1960s American Vintage Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps

Martz Lamp by Jane and Gordon Martz, Ceramic

1970s American Vintage Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps

Vintage Jane + Gordon Martz Marshall Studios Incised Stoneware Lamp 141-35-122

1960s American Vintage Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps

Martz Lamps by Jane and Gordon Martz for Marshall Studios, Ceramic Table Lamps

1960s American Vintage Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps

Martz Table Lamp by Jane and Gordon Martz

1960s American Vintage Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps

Jane & Gordon Martz, Table Lamp, Ceramic, Walnut, Marshall Studios, 1960s

1960s North American Vintage Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps

Martz Table Lamp by Jane and Gordon Martz for Marshall Studios

1960s American Vintage Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps

Martz Lamps by Jane and Gordon Martz for Marshall Studios, Ceramic Table Lamps

1960s American Vintage Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps

Jane and Gordon Martz Table Lamp for Marshall Studios, Ceramic, 1960s

1960s American Vintage Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps

Jane and Gordon Martz Ceramic Table Lamp

1960s American Vintage Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps

Martz Lamps by Jane and Gordon Martz for Marshall Studios, Ceramic Table Lamps

1960s American Vintage Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps

Large Ceramic Martz Table Lamp by Jane and Gordon Martz for Marshall Studios

1970s American Vintage Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps

Martz Lamps by Jane and Gordon Martz for Marshall Studios, Ceramic Table Lamps

1960s American Vintage Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps

Martz Lamp by Jane and Gordon Martz for Marshall Studios, Ceramic Table Lamp

1960s American Vintage Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps

Martz Table or Desk Lamp by Jane and Gordon Martz for Marshall Studios

1960s American Vintage Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps

Jane & Gordon Martz, Table Lamp, Ceramic, Walnut, Marshall Studios, 1960s

1960s American Vintage Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps

Martz Lamp by Jane and Gordon Martz for Marshall Studios, Ceramic Table Lamp

1960s American Vintage Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps

Jane & Gordon Martz, Large Table Lamp, Ceramic, Walnut, Marshall Studios, 1960s

1960s American Vintage Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps

Jane & Gordon Martz, Table Lamp, Ceramic, Wood, Marshall Studios, 1960s

1960s American Vintage Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps

Mid Century Martz Stoneware Ceramic Pottery Lamp for Marshall Studios

1960s American Vintage Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps

Jane and Gordon Martz Lamp, Ceramic

1960s American Vintage Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps

Jane and Gordon Martz Table Lamp, Ceramic and Walnut

1960s American Vintage Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps

Martz Lamps by Jane and Gordon Martz for Marshall Studios, Ceramic Table Lamps

1960s American Vintage Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps

Martz Lamp by Jane and Gordon Martz for Marshall Studios, Ceramic Table Lamp

1960s Vintage Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps

Jane and Gordon Martz Large Table Lamp for Marshall Studios

1960s American Vintage Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps

Jane and Gordon Martz Ceramic Table Lamp

1960s American Vintage Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps

Jane and Gordon Martz Table Lamp for Marshall Studios

1960s American Vintage Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps

Martz Table Lamp by Jane and Gordon Martz, Ceramic

1960s American Vintage Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps

Jane & Gordon Martz, Grey Table Lamp, Ceramic, Walnut, Marshall Studios, 1960s

Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps

Mid-Century Modern Tan Art Pottery Table Lamp by Gordon Martz

1960s American Vintage Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps

Martz Table Lamp by Jane and Gordon Martz

1960s American Vintage Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps

Jane and Gordon Martz Ceramic Table Lamp for Marshall Studios

1960s American Vintage Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps

Large Modernist Martz Lamp by Jane and Gordon Martz

1970s American Vintage Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps

Stacked Walnut Martz Lamp for Marshall Studios

1960s American Vintage Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps

Jane and Gordon Martz Ceramic Table Lamp, Walnut and Ceramic

1960s American Vintage Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps

Jane and Gordon Martz Ceramic Teardrop Table Lamp

1960s American Vintage Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps