Mid-Century Modern Chairs
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
- Eames lounge chair
- Nelson daybed
- Florence Knoll sofa
- Egg chair
- Womb chair
- Noguchi coffee table
- Barcelona chair
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.
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Style: Mid-Century Modern
Creator: Cassina
Frank Lloyd Wright "Barrel" Chairs for Cassina, 1937, Set of 8
Located in Lonigo, Veneto
Frank Lloyd Wright "Barrel" chairs for Cassina, patinated wood and velvet seat, Italy, 1937, set of 8.
A timeless design informed by exceptional constructive complexity, the icon...
Category
1930s Italian Vintage Mid-Century Modern Chairs
Materials
Velvet, Wood
Vico Magistretti "Carimate" Dining Chairs for Cassina, 1960, Set of 6
Located in Lonigo, Veneto
Vico Magistretti "Carimate" dining chairs for Cassina, red lacquered wood and straw seat, Italy, 1960, set of six.
The "Carimate" chair is one of Vico Magistretti’s most famous ch...
Category
1960s Italian Vintage Mid-Century Modern Chairs
Materials
Straw, Wood
Afra and Tobia Scarpa Mod. ‘925’ Easy Chair for Cassina, Italy, 1966
Located in Rotterdam, NL
Afra & Tobia Scarpa mod. '925’ easy chair for Cassina, Italy 1966. Beautiful example made out of nice dark warm colored walnut and ox blood red leather....
Category
1960s Italian Vintage Mid-Century Modern Chairs
Materials
Leather, Walnut
Frank Lloyd Wright "Barrel" Chairs for Cassina, 1937, Set of 6
Located in Lonigo, Veneto
Frank Lloyd Wright "Barrel" chairs for Cassina, patinated wood and velvet seat, Italy, 1937, set of six.
A timeless design informed by exceptional constructive complexity, the ic...
Category
1930s Italian Vintage Mid-Century Modern Chairs
Materials
Velvet, Wood
Afra & Tobia Scarpa "121" Dining Chairs for Cassina, 1965, Set of 6
Located in Lonigo, Veneto
Afra & Tobia Scarpa "121" dining chairs for Cassina, black leather, Italy, 1965, set of six.
Iconic and charming, the model "121" by Afra & Tobia Scarpa shows once again the Scarpa'...
Category
1960s Italian Vintage Mid-Century Modern Chairs
Materials
Leather, Walnut, Plywood
Pierre Jeanneret 051 Capitol Complex Office Chair for Cassina, Italy, new
Located in Berlin, DE
The price is dependent on the chosen material. One chair in black stained oak is in stock. More items are available on order (production lead time: 13-14 weeks). Chair designed by Pi...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Mid-Century Modern Chairs
Materials
Cane, Wood
Gerrit Rietveld Zeilmaker Version of Black Red and Blue Chair by Cassina
Located in Barcelona, Barcelona
Chair designed by Gerrit Rietveld in 1920. Relaunched in 2015.
Manufactured by Cassina in Italy.
One of the versions of the iconic model dated 1918. The structure is in black-stained beechwood with white contrasting parts. Seat and back in green lacquered multiplywood.
The black red and blue (Zeilmaker version) born from Rietveld’s chromatic experimentation
While researching the origins of the red and blue model in collaboration with the Rietveld heirs, it emerged that the key idea of the first prototypes was based on the concept of spatial organization expressed through the monochrome tones of its elements. The first version was in fact produced in 1918 in completely unpainted wood.
In the following years Rietveld proposed various examples, either monochrome or painted in different colors, depending on the requirements of his customers and the interiors for which the chairs were intended. As such, it comes as no surprise to find this 1920s version, presented as part of Cassina’s MutAzioni selection, created for the school teacher Wicher Zeilmaker with a black frame with white ends and a dark green painted seat and backrest.
It was Rietveld’s ever-increasing involvement in the De Stijl movement that led him to also use primary colors on this model in 1923, and as such the chair became a veritable manifesto for the emerging neoplastic movement. Initially dubbed slat chair, Rietveld only gave it the name red and blue in the 1950s following its chromatic evolution.
The various owners of the different examples used the chair as an abstract-realist sculpture in their interiors and, in some cases, as a simple tool for sitting on, adding cushions to make it more comfortable, just like Cassina offers for the black red and blue today.
Important information regarding images of products:
Please note that some of the images show other colors and variations of the model, these images are only to present interior design proposals. The item that is selling is on the first image.
Important information regarding color(s) of products:
Actual colors may vary. This is due to the fact that every computer monitor, laptop, tablet and phone screen has a different capability to display colors and that everyone sees these colors differently. We try to edit our photos to show all of our products as life-like as possible, but please understand the actual color may vary slightly from your monitor
About the designer:
Gerrit Thomas Rietveld, born in Utrecht on 24 June 1888, seems possessed of two personalities, each so distinct that one might take his work to be that of more than one artist. The first personality is that seen in the craftsman cabinet...
Category
2010s Italian Mid-Century Modern Chairs
Materials
Leather, Wood
Gio Ponti 646 "Leggera" Dining Chairs for Cassina, 1952, Set of 10
Located in Lonigo, Veneto
Gio Ponti 646 "Leggera" dining chairs for Cassina, black ash-wood and rope seat, Italy, 1952, set of ten.
The model 646 "Leggera" is an icon of chair...
Category
1950s Italian Vintage Mid-Century Modern Chairs
Materials
Rope, Ash
Leggera Mid Century Dining Chair by Gio Ponti for Cassina
Located in Milano, IT
Price for chair, 8 chairs available.
Giò Ponti needs no introduction: He's been arguably the most influential personality in Italian design and architecture for almost three decades...
Category
1970s Italian Vintage Mid-Century Modern Chairs
Materials
Leather, Wood
Charlotte Perriand Set of Twelve Berger and Meribel Wood Stools by Cassina
Located in Barcelona, Barcelona
Set of twelve stools model Meribel and Berger designed by Charlotte Perriand in 1953-1961.
American walnut, natural oak and oak stained black.
Relaunched by Cassina in 2011.
Manu...
Category
2010s Italian Mid-Century Modern Chairs
Materials
Aluminum
Franco Albini Luisa Chair, Wood and Fabric by Cassina
By Franco Albini, Cassina
Located in Barcelona, Barcelona
Chair designed by Franco Albini in 1953. Relaunched in 2013.
Manufactured by Cassina in Italy.
The small armchair, dubbed Luisa, is the fruit of a fifteen-year process of exploration, focused on creating an archetype of the basic elements of a chair, and its potential uses within the home. A idea-based design, where Franco Albini expressed the concept of “substance in form”, increasing the volume of the wooden parts where they join with others. Following various enhancements, the definitive version of the chair was awarded the prestigious Compasso D’Oro prize by the Italian Industrial Design Association (Associazione per il Disegno Industriale/ADI). The frame represents a synthesis where the seat and the back are two geometric planes suspended on an understated wood structure, the sides reminiscent of trestles. Luisa is a timeless piece, the outcome of skill, both in terms of technique and of materials. This world exclusive Cassina re-issue, has been made possible thanks to the company’s extraordinary...
Category
2010s Italian Mid-Century Modern Chairs
Materials
Fabric, Wood
Pierre Jeanneret 055 Capitol Complex Chair by Cassina
Located in Barcelona, Barcelona
Chair designed by Pierre Jeanneret circa 1950, relaunched in 2019.
Manufactured by Cassina in Italy.
This chair is one of the most recognisable in Chandigarh’s Capitol Complex, foun...
Category
2010s Italian Mid-Century Modern Chairs
Materials
Cane, Wood
Franco Albini Luisa Chair, American Walnut and Fabric by Cassina
By Franco Albini, Cassina
Located in Barcelona, Barcelona
Luisa chair designed by Franco Albini in 1953. Relaunched in 2013.
Manufactured by Cassina in Italy.
The small armchair, dubbed Luisa, is the fruit of a fifteen-year process of...
Category
2010s Italian Mid-Century Modern Chairs
Materials
Fabric, Wood
Set of Two Lc1 Chairs by Le Corbusier, Charlotte Perriand by Cassina
Located in Barcelona, Barcelona
Chair designed by Le Corbusier, Pierre Jeanneret, Charlotte Perriand in 1928. Relaunched in 1965.
Manufactured by Cassina in Italy.
A light, compact chair designed and presented ...
Category
2010s Italian Mid-Century Modern Chairs
Materials
Steel
Le Corbusier, Pierre Jeanneret, Charlotte Perriand LC1 Chair by Cassina
Located in Barcelona, Barcelona
Chair designed by Le Corbusier, Pierre Jeanneret, Charlotte Perriand in 1928. Relaunched in 1965.
Manufactured by Cassina in Italy.
A light, compact chair designed and presented ...
Category
2010s Italian Mid-Century Modern Chairs
Materials
Steel
Le Corbusier, Pierre Jeanneret, Charlotte Perriand LC1 Chair by Cassina
Located in Barcelona, Barcelona
Chair designed by Le Corbusier, Pierre Jeanneret, Charlotte Perriand in 1928. Relaunched in 1965.
Manufactured by Cassina in Italy.
A light, compact chair designed and presented ...
Category
2010s Italian Mid-Century Modern Chairs
Materials
Steel
Set of Two Pierre Jeanneret 051 Capitol Complex Office Chair by Cassina
Located in Barcelona, Barcelona
Chair designed by Pierre Jeanneret circa 1950, relaunched in 2019.
Manufactured by Cassina in Italy.
This chair is one of the most recognisable in Chandigarh’s Capitol Complex, f...
Category
2010s Italian Mid-Century Modern Chairs
Materials
Cane, Wood
Set of Two Pierre Jeanneret 051 Capitol Complex Office Chair by Cassina
Located in Barcelona, Barcelona
Chair designed by Pierre Jeanneret circa 1950, relaunched in 2019.
Manufactured by Cassina in Italy.
This chair is one of the most recognisable in Chandigarh’s Capitol Complex, f...
Category
2010s Italian Mid-Century Modern Chairs
Materials
Cane, Wood
Charlotte Perriand Indochine Armchair for Cassina, Italy, new
Located in Berlin, DE
Prices vary dependent on the chosen material of the chair. The base is available in walnut or in black stained ash. The seat is available in fabric or leather.
Charlotte Perriand Indochine Armchair...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Mid-Century Modern Chairs
Materials
Wood, Leather
Gio Ponti Chairs
Located in New York, NY
Rare pair of armchairs by Gio Ponti. Rare pair of armchairs by Gio Ponti. A rare variation of model #110, produced by Cassina. Open-grain ash chairs with upholstered seat and back an...
Category
Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Chairs
Materials
Upholstery, Wood
Franco Albini Luisa Chair, American Walnut and Fabric by Cassina
By Franco Albini, Cassina
Located in Barcelona, Barcelona
Luisa chair designed by Franco Albini in 1953. Relaunched in 2013.
Manufactured by Cassina in Italy.
The small armchair, dubbed Luisa, is the fruit of a fifteen-year process of exploration, focused on creating an archetype of the basic elements of a chair, and its potential uses within the home. A idea-based design, where Franco Albini expressed the concept of “substance in form”, increasing the volume of the wooden parts where they join with others. Following various enhancements, the definitive version of the chair was awarded the prestigious Compasso D’Oro prize by the Italian Industrial Design Association (Associazione per il Disegno Industriale/ADI). The frame represents a synthesis where the seat and the back are two geometric planes suspended on an understated wood structure, the sides reminiscent of trestles. Luisa is a timeless piece, the outcome of skill, both in terms of technique and of materials. This world exclusive Cassina re-issue, has been made possible thanks to the company’s extraordinary wood...
Category
2010s Italian Mid-Century Modern Chairs
Materials
Fabric, Wood
Pierre Jeanneret 051 Capitol Complex Office Chair with Cushion by Cassina
Located in Barcelona, Barcelona
Chair designed by Pierre Jeanneret circa 1950, relaunched in 2019.
Manufactured by Cassina in Italy.
This chair is one of the most recognizable in Chandigarh’s Capitol Complex, f...
Category
2010s Italian Mid-Century Modern Chairs
Materials
Cane, Wood
Afra & Tobia Scarpa Red Leather 121 Dining Chair for Cassina, 1967, Set of 10
Located in Vicenza, IT
Set of ten Model 121 dining chairs, designed by Afra and Tobia Scarpa and produced by the Italian manufacturer Cassina in 1967.
They feature English red leather upholstery and a wal...
Category
1960s Italian Vintage Mid-Century Modern Chairs
Materials
Leather, Walnut
Pierre Jeanneret 055 Capitol Complex Chair with Cushion by Cassina
Located in Barcelona, Barcelona
Chair designed by Pierre Jeanneret, circa 1950, relaunched in 2019.
Manufactured by Cassina in Italy.
This chair is one of the most recognisable in Chandigarh’s Capitol Complex, ...
Category
2010s Italian Mid-Century Modern Chairs
Materials
Cane, Wood
Le Corbusier, P. Jeanneret, C. Perriand Lc1 Chair Outdoor Collection by Cassina
Located in Barcelona, Barcelona
Chair designed by Le Corbusier, Pierre Jeanneret, Charlotte Perriand in 1928. Relaunched in 2019.
Manufactured by Cassina in Italy.
A light, compact chair designed and presented ...
Category
2010s Italian Mid-Century Modern Chairs
Materials
Steel
Gerrit Thomas Rietveld Zig Zag Chair by Cassina
Located in Barcelona, Barcelona
Chair designed by Gerrit Thomas Rietveld in 1934. Relaunched in 1973/ 2011.
Manufactured by Cassina in Italy.
Designed by Gerrit Rietveld, this chair provided an early example of...
Category
2010s Italian Mid-Century Modern Chairs
Materials
Wood
Charles Rennie Mackintosh 292 Hill House Chair by Cassina
Located in Barcelona, Barcelona
Chair designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh in 1902. Relaunched in 1973.
Manufactured by Cassina in Italy.
This iconic chair reflects Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s style and his fearless approach to the most challenging manufacturing processes. Originally a furnishing accessory for one of Mackintosh’s major design projects, Hill House in Helensburgh, near Glasgow, Scotland, from which its name derives. The linear, geometric form is evocative of the minimal, abstract lines of Japanese graphics, which confer symbolic and figurative symbolic value to the piece’s striking visual impact. This piece is seen by many critics as not only a chair but also a veritable treatise on the way space can be articulated. The tall back is defined by a succession of vertical lines that are topped with a grid of verticals and horizontals. Thanks to the mastery of the furnitire makers of Meda, in the Brianza area north of Milan, Cassina has re-issued the Hill House chair...
Category
2010s Italian Mid-Century Modern Chairs
Materials
Velvet, Wood
Mario Bellini for Cassina Set of 6 Break Armchairs
By Mario Bellini, Cassina
Located in Philadelphia, PA
Set of 6 Mario Bellini Break Armchairs in a top grain dark blue leather. Down-filled cushions add style and comfort to these chairs! 2 Additional armless...
Category
1990s Italian Mid-Century Modern Chairs
Materials
Metal
Le Corbusier, P. Jeanneret, Charlotte Perriand LC1 Villa Church Chair by Cassina
Located in Barcelona, Barcelona
Chair designed by Le Corbusier, Pierre Jeanneret, Charlotte Perriand in 1928. Relaunched in 2012.
Manufactured by Cassina in Italy.
Armchair with structure in polished trivalent chr...
Category
2010s Italian Mid-Century Modern Chairs
Materials
Steel
Rodolfo Dordoni ''Dine Out' Outside Chair by Cassina
Located in Barcelona, Barcelona
Outdoor chair designed by Rodolfo Dordoni in 2020. Manufactured by Cassina in Italy.
The Dine Out collection of furniture is designed to add a touch of sophisticated style to the ...
Category
2010s Italian Mid-Century Modern Chairs
Materials
Fabric, Rope, Wood
Charlotte Perriand Outdoors Green LC7 Chair by Cassina
Located in Barcelona, Barcelona
Outdoors green LC7 chair designed by Charlotte Perriand in 1927. Relaunched in 1978.
Manufactured by Cassina in Italy.
Designed by Charlotte Perriand and p...
Category
2010s Italian Mid-Century Modern Chairs
Materials
Steel
Pierre Jeanneret 055 Capitol Complex Chair by Cassina
Located in Barcelona, Barcelona
Chair designed by Pierre Jeanneret circa 1950, relaunched in 2019.
Manufactured by Cassina in Italy.
This chair is one of the most recognisable in Chandigarh’s Capitol Complex, foun...
Category
2010s Italian Mid-Century Modern Chairs
Materials
Wood
Pierre Jeanneret 051 Capitol Complex Office Chair with Cushion by Cassina
Located in Barcelona, Barcelona
Chair designed by Pierre Jeanneret circa 1950, relaunched in 2019.
Manufactured by Cassina in Italy.
This chair is one of the most recognisable in Chandigarh’s Capitol Complex, f...
Category
2010s Italian Mid-Century Modern Chairs
Materials
Cane, Wood
Vico Magistretti for Cassina Set of Eight Chairs in Red Velvet and Walnut
Located in Waalwijk, NL
Vico Magistretti for Cassina, set of eight dining chairs, model '122', walnut, velvet, 1967
This Italian set designed by Vico Magistretti features a remarkable sculpted back that is...
Category
1960s Italian Vintage Mid-Century Modern Chairs
Materials
Velvet, Walnut
Set of Two Franco Albini Luisa Chairs, Wood and Fabric by Cassina
By Cassina, Franco Albini
Located in Barcelona, Barcelona
Chair designed by Franco Albini in 1953. Relaunched in 2013.
Manufactured by Cassina in Italy.
The small armchair, dubbed Luisa, is the fruit of a fifteen-year process of exploration, focused on creating an archetype of the basic elements of a chair, and its potential uses within the home. A idea-based design, where Franco Albini expressed the concept of “substance in form”, increasing the volume of the wooden parts where they join with others. Following various enhancements, the definitive version of the chair was awarded the prestigious Compasso D’Oro prize by the Italian Industrial Design Association (Associazione per il Disegno Industriale/ADI). The frame represents a synthesis where the seat and the back are two geometric planes suspended on an understated wood structure, the sides reminiscent of trestles. Luisa is a timeless piece, the outcome of skill, both in terms of technique and of materials. This world exclusive Cassina re-issue, has been made possible thanks to the company’s extraordinary...
Category
2010s Italian Mid-Century Modern Chairs
Materials
Fabric, Wood
Pierre Jeanneret 051 Capitol Complex Office Chair by Cassina
Located in Barcelona, Barcelona
Chair designed by Pierre Jeanneret circa 1950, relaunched in 2019.
Manufactured by Cassina in Italy.
This chair is one of the most recognisable in Chandigarh’s Capitol Complex, foun...
Category
2010s Italian Mid-Century Modern Chairs
Materials
Cane, Wood
Set of Two LC1 Chairs by Le Corbusier, Jeanneret, Charlotte Perriand by Cassina
Located in Barcelona, Barcelona
Chair designed by Le Corbusier, Pierre Jeanneret, Charlotte Perriand in 1928. Relaunched in 1965.
Manufactured by Cassina in Italy.
A light, compact chair designed and presented ...
Category
2010s Italian Mid-Century Modern Chairs
Materials
Steel
Charlotte Perriand LC7 Chair for Cassina Fauteuil Tournant, Italy - new
Located in Berlin, DE
Charlotte Perriand LC7 Chair by Cassina. Prices are dependent on the chosen color and material. Please ask for pricing in othe...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Mid-Century Modern Chairs
Materials
Steel
Vico Magistretti "Carimate" Dining Chairs for Cassina, 1960, Set of 10
Located in Lonigo, Veneto
Vico Magistretti "Carimate" dining chairs for Cassina, red lacquered wood and straw seat, Italy, 1960, set of ten.
The "Carimate" chair is...
Category
1960s Italian Vintage Mid-Century Modern Chairs
Materials
Straw, Wood
Gerrit Thomas Rietveld Zig Zag Chair by Cassina
Located in Barcelona, Barcelona
Chair designed by Gerrit Thomas Rietveld in 1934. Relaunched in 1973/ 2011.
Manufactured by Cassina in Italy.
Designed by Gerrit Rietveld, this chair provided an early example of...
Category
2010s Italian Mid-Century Modern Chairs
Materials
Wood
Italian Set of Red Villabianca Chairs by Vico Magistretti for Cassina, 1985
Located in MIlano, IT
Italian Mid-Century Modern set of red and black Villabianca chairs by V. Magistretti for Cassina, 1985
Set of 4 Villabianca chairs, with round section beech frame and graphic line o...
Category
1980s Italian Vintage Mid-Century Modern Chairs
Materials
Fabric, Wood
Vico Magistretti "Carimate" Dining Chairs for Cassina, 1960, Set of 6
Located in Philadelphia, PA
Vico Magistretti "Carimate" dining chairs for Cassina, wood and beautiful dark green velvet, Italy, 1960, set of six. The "Carimate" chair is one of Vico Magistretti’s most famous ch...
Category
Mid-20th Century European Mid-Century Modern Chairs
Materials
Beech
Pierre Jeanneret 055 Capitol Complex Chair by Cassina
Located in Barcelona, Barcelona
Chair designed by Pierre Jeanneret circa 1950, relaunched in 2019.
Manufactured by Cassina in Italy.
This chair is one of the most recognisable in Chandigarh’s Capitol Complex...
Category
2010s Italian Mid-Century Modern Chairs
Materials
Cane, Wood
Set of 6 Wooden Dining Chairs 107 Model by Gianfranco Frattini for Cassina 60s
Located in Padova, IT
Set of 6 wooden dining chairs 107 model by Gianfranco Frattini for Cassina 60s
Born in Padua in 1926, Gianfranco Frattini graduated in Architecture at the Milan Polytechnic in 1953,...
Category
1960s Italian Vintage Mid-Century Modern Chairs
Materials
Fabric, Wood
Charlotte Perriand Ombra Lounge Chair for Cassina, Italy, 2004
Located in Antwerp, BE
Charlotte Perriand; Ombra; lounge chair; Cassina; Italy; easy chair; leather; Italian design; armchair; living room; chairs; 1950s Design;
Ombra lounge chair, designed by Charlot...
Category
Early 2000s Italian Mid-Century Modern Chairs
Materials
Steel
Le Corbusier, Pierre Jeanneret, Charlotte Perriand LC1 Chair by Cassina
Located in Barcelona, Barcelona
Chair designed by Le Corbusier, Pierre Jeanneret, Charlotte Perriand in 1928. Relaunched in 1965.
Manufactured by Cassina in Italy.
A light, compact chair designed and presented ...
Category
2010s Italian Mid-Century Modern Chairs
Materials
Steel
Vico Magistretti "Carimate" Dining Chairs for Cassina, 1960, Set of 10
Located in Lonigo, Veneto
Vico Magistretti "Carimate" dining chairs for Cassina, red lacquered wood and straw seat, Italy, 1960, set of ten.
The "Carimate" chair is one of Vico Magistretti’s most famous ch...
Category
1960s Italian Vintage Mid-Century Modern Chairs
Materials
Straw, Wood
Vico Magistretti "Carimate" Dining Chairs for Cassina, 1960, Set of 14
Located in Lonigo, Veneto
Vico Magistretti "Carimate" dining chairs for Cassina, red lacquered wood and straw seat, Italy, 1960, set of fourteen.
The "Carimate" chair is one of Vico Magistretti’s most famo...
Category
1960s Italian Vintage Mid-Century Modern Chairs
Materials
Straw, Wood
Pierre Jeanneret Commitee Chair by Cassina
Located in Barcelona, Barcelona
Committee Chair designed by Pierre Jeanneret circa 1950 , relaunched in 2022.
Manufactured by Cassina in Italy.
The Committee Chair is introduced in the original version and in a fr...
Category
2010s Italian Mid-Century Modern Chairs
Materials
Wood
Afra & Tobia Scarpa "121" Dining Chairs for Cassina, 1965, Set of 10
Located in Lonigo, Veneto
Afra & Tobia Scarpa "121" dining chairs for Cassina, red leather, Italy, 1965, set of ten.
Iconic and charming, the model "121" by Afra & Tobia Scarpa shows once again the Scarpa's ...
Category
1960s Italian Vintage Mid-Century Modern Chairs
Materials
Leather, Walnut, Plywood
Gerrit Rietveld Zeilmaker Version of Black Red and Blue Chair by Cassina
Located in Barcelona, Barcelona
Chair designed by Gerrit Rietveld in 1920. Relaunched in 2015.
Manufactured by Cassina in Italy.
One of the versions of the iconic model dated 1918. The structure is in black-stained beechwood with white contrasting parts. Seat and back in green lacquered multiplywood. The armchair can have a single seat and backrest cushion in fabric or leather.
The black red and blue (Zeilmaker version) born from Rietveld’s chromatic experimentation
While researching the origins of the red and blue model in collaboration with the Rietveld heirs, it emerged that the key idea of the first prototypes was based on the concept of spatial organization expressed through the monochrome tones of its elements. The first version was in fact produced in 1918 in completely unpainted wood.
In the following years Rietveld proposed various examples, either monochrome or painted in different colors, depending on the requirements of his customers and the interiors for which the chairs were intended. As such, it comes as no surprise to find this 1920s version, presented as part of Cassina’s MutAzioni selection, created for the school teacher Wicher Zeilmaker with a black frame with white ends and a dark green painted seat and backrest.
It was Rietveld’s ever-increasing involvement in the De Stijl movement that led him to also use primary colors on this model in 1923, and as such the chair became a veritable manifesto for the emerging neoplastic movement. Initially dubbed slat chair, Rietveld only gave it the name red and blue in the 1950s following its chromatic evolution.
The various owners of the different examples used the chair as an abstract-realist sculpture in their interiors and, in some cases, as a simple tool for sitting on, adding cushions to make it more comfortable, just like Cassina offers for the black red and blue today.
Important information regarding images of products:
Please note that some of the images show other colors and variations of the model, these images are only to present interior design proposals. The item that is selling is on the first image.
Important information regarding color(s) of products:
Actual colors may vary. This is due to the fact that every computer monitor, laptop, tablet and phone screen has a different capability to display colors and that everyone sees these colors differently. We try to edit our photos to show all of our products as life-like as possible, but please understand the actual color may vary slightly from your monitor
About the designer:
Gerrit Thomas Rietveld, born in Utrecht on 24 June 1888, seems possessed of two personalities, each so distinct that one might take his work to be that of more than one artist. The first personality is that seen in the craftsman cabinet-maker working in a primordial idiom, re-inventing chairs and other furniture as if no one had ever built them before him and following a structural code all of his own; the second is that of the architect working with elegant formulas, determined to drive home the rationalist and neoplastic message in the context of European architecture. The two activities alternate, overlap, and fuse in a perfect osmosis unfolding then into a logical sequence. In 1918 Rietveld joined the “De Stijl” movement which had sprung up around the review of that name founded the year before by Theo van Doesburg. The group assimilated and translated into ideology certain laws on the dynamic breakdown of compositions (carrying them to an extreme) that had already been expressed in painting by the cubists: the “De Stijl” artists also carefully studied the architectonic lesson taught by the great Frank Lloyd Wright, whose influence was widely felt in Europe at that time.
Collaborating first with Robert van’t Hoff and Vilmos Huszar...
Category
2010s Italian Mid-Century Modern Chairs
Materials
Leather, Wood
Charles Rennie Mackintosh 292 Hill House Chair by Cassina
Located in Barcelona, Barcelona
Chair designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh in 1902. Relaunched in 1973.
Manufactured by Cassina in Italy.
This iconic chair reflects Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s style and his fearless approach to the most challenging manufacturing processes. Originally a furnishing accessory for one of Mackintosh’s major design projects, Hill House in Helensburgh, near Glasgow, Scotland, from which its name derives. The linear, geometric form is evocative of the minimal, abstract lines of Japanese graphics, which confer symbolic and figurative symbolic value to the piece’s striking visual impact. This piece is seen by many critics as not only a chair but also a veritable treatise on the way space can be articulated. The tall back is defined by a succession of vertical lines that are topped with a grid of verticals and horizontals. Thanks to the mastery of the furnitire makers of Meda, in the Brianza area north of Milan, Cassina has re-issued the Hill House chair...
Category
2010s Italian Mid-Century Modern Chairs
Materials
Velvet, Wood
Frank Lloyd Wright Coonley Chair for Cassina, Italy, new
Located in Berlin, DE
Please ask for pricing in other materials and colors.
An extremely functional dining chair, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright in 1907 for the Avery Coonley House, one of the finest ...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Mid-Century Modern Chairs
Materials
Fabric, Leather, Wood
Vico Magistretti "Carimate" Dining Chairs for Cassina, 1960, Set of 16
Located in Lonigo, Veneto
Vico Magistretti "carimate" dining chairs for Cassina, red lacquered wood and straw seat, Italy, 1960, set of sixteen.
The "carimate" chair is one of Vico Magistretti’s most famou...
Category
1960s Italian Vintage Mid-Century Modern Chairs
Materials
Straw, Wood
Vico Magistretti "Carimate" Dining Chairs for Cassina, 1960, Set of 16
Located in Lonigo, Veneto
Vico Magistretti "Carimate" dining chairs for Cassina, red lacquered wood and straw seat, Italy, 1960, set of sixteen.
The "Carimate" chair is one of Vico Magistretti’s most famou...
Category
1960s Italian Vintage Mid-Century Modern Chairs
Materials
Straw, Wood
Vico Magistretti "Carimate" Dining Chairs for Cassina, 1960, Set of 14
Located in Lonigo, Veneto
Vico Magistretti "Carimate" dining chairs for Cassina, red lacquered wood and straw seat, Italy, 1960, set of fourteen.
The "Carimate" chair is one of Vico Magistretti’s most famo...
Category
1960s Italian Vintage Mid-Century Modern Chairs
Materials
Straw, Wood
Gerrit Thomas Rietveld Zig Zag Chair by Cassina
Located in Barcelona, Barcelona
Chair designed by Gerrit Thomas Rietveld in 1934. Relaunched in 1973/ 2011.
Manufactured by Cassina in Italy.
Designed by Gerrit Rietveld, this chair provided an early example of...
Category
2010s Italian Mid-Century Modern Chairs
Materials
Wood
Set of Six Rodolfo Dordoni ''Dine Out' Outside Chairs by Cassina
Located in Barcelona, Barcelona
Outdoor chairs designed by Rodolfo Dordoni in 2020. Manufactured by Cassina in Italy.
The Dine Out collection of furniture is designed to add a touch of sophisticated style to the...
Category
2010s Italian Mid-Century Modern Chairs
Materials
Fabric, Rope, Wood
Mid-century Modern chairs for sale on 1stDibs.
Find a broad range of unique Mid-Century Modern chairs for sale on 1stDibs. Many of these items were first offered in the 21st Century and Contemporary, but contemporary artisans have continued to produce works inspired by this style. If you’re looking to add vintage chairs created in this style to your space, the works available on 1stDibs include seating, building and garden elements, tables and other home furnishings, frequently crafted with wood, fabric and other materials. If you’re shopping for used Mid-Century Modern chairs made in a specific country, there are Europe, Italy, and North America pieces for sale on 1stDibs. While there are many designers and brands associated with original chairs, popular names associated with this style include Cassina, Hans J. Wegner, GETAMA, and Fritz Hansen. It’s true that these talented designers have at times inspired knockoffs, but our experienced specialists have partnered with only top vetted sellers to offer authentic pieces that come with a buyer protection guarantee. Prices for chairs differ depending upon multiple factors, including designer, materials, construction methods, condition and provenance. On 1stDibs, the price for these items starts at $84 and tops out at $244,500 while the average work can sell for $2,904.
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