Modern Rugs and Carpets
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 The modernists rejected both natural and historical references and relied primarily on industrial materials such as metal, glass, plywood, and, later, plastics.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.
Late 20th Century Azerbaijani Modern Rugs and Carpets
Wool
Late 20th Century Tibetan Modern Rugs and Carpets
Wool
Late 20th Century Turkish Modern Rugs and Carpets
Wool, Cotton, Foam
1980s Italian Vintage Modern Rugs and Carpets
Wool
Late 20th Century Pakistani Modern Rugs and Carpets
Wool
Late 20th Century Tibetan Modern Rugs and Carpets
Wool
1970s Italian Vintage Modern Rugs and Carpets
Wool
Late 20th Century Persian Modern Rugs and Carpets
Wool
Late 20th Century Persian Modern Rugs and Carpets
Wool
1980s Italian Vintage Modern Rugs and Carpets
Wool
Late 20th Century Persian Modern Rugs and Carpets
Wool
1970s Turkish Vintage Modern Rugs and Carpets
Wool
Late 20th Century Moroccan Modern Rugs and Carpets
Wool
1980s French Vintage Modern Rugs and Carpets
Wool
1970s Turkish Vintage Modern Rugs and Carpets
Wool
Late 20th Century Afghan Modern Rugs and Carpets
Wool, Cotton
Late 20th Century Indian Modern Rugs and Carpets
Wool
Late 20th Century Nepalese Modern Rugs and Carpets
Wool, Cotton
Late 20th Century Persian Modern Rugs and Carpets
Wool
Late 20th Century Persian Modern Rugs and Carpets
Wool
Late 20th Century Turkish Modern Rugs and Carpets
Wool
Late 20th Century Persian Modern Rugs and Carpets
Wool
Late 20th Century Indian Modern Rugs and Carpets
Wool
Late 20th Century Turkish Modern Rugs and Carpets
Wool
Late 20th Century Tibetan Modern Rugs and Carpets
Wool
Late 20th Century Italian Modern Rugs and Carpets
Wool, Cotton
1980s French Vintage Modern Rugs and Carpets
Wool
1980s Italian Vintage Modern Rugs and Carpets
Wool
1980s Italian Vintage Modern Rugs and Carpets
Alpaca
Late 20th Century Modern Rugs and Carpets
Textile
Late 20th Century Moroccan Modern Rugs and Carpets
Wool
1990s Italian Modern Rugs and Carpets
Wool
Late 20th Century French Modern Rugs and Carpets
Wool
1990s Italian Modern Rugs and Carpets
Wool
Late 20th Century Turkish Modern Rugs and Carpets
Wool, Goat Hair, Cotton
1990s American Modern Rugs and Carpets
Wool
Late 20th Century Moroccan Modern Rugs and Carpets
Wool
Late 20th Century Turkish Modern Rugs and Carpets
Goat Hair, Cotton, Wool
1970s Italian Vintage Modern Rugs and Carpets
Wool
1970s Italian Vintage Modern Rugs and Carpets
Fabric
Late 20th Century Azerbaijani Modern Rugs and Carpets
Wool
Late 20th Century Turkish Modern Rugs and Carpets
Wool
Late 20th Century Turkish Modern Rugs and Carpets
Wool, Cotton
Late 20th Century Chinese Modern Rugs and Carpets
Silk
Late 20th Century Dutch Modern Rugs and Carpets
Wool
Late 20th Century Turkish Modern Rugs and Carpets
Wool
1980s Turkish Vintage Modern Rugs and Carpets
Wool
1970s Turkish Vintage Modern Rugs and Carpets
Wool
1990s Scandinavian Modern Rugs and Carpets
Wool
1980s Turkish Vintage Modern Rugs and Carpets
Wool
1970s Turkish Vintage Modern Rugs and Carpets
Wool
1970s Turkish Vintage Modern Rugs and Carpets
Wool, Cotton
1990s Italian Modern Rugs and Carpets
Fabric
Late 20th Century Pakistani Modern Rugs and Carpets
Wool
Late 20th Century Persian Modern Rugs and Carpets
Wool
1980s Danish Vintage Modern Rugs and Carpets
Wool
1970s Turkish Vintage Modern Rugs and Carpets
Wool
1980s Turkish Vintage Modern Rugs and Carpets
Wool