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
Afra & Tobia Scarpa "121" Dining Chairs for Cassina, 1965, Set of 14
Located in Lonigo, Veneto
Afra & Tobia Scarpa "121" dining chairs for Cassina, red leather, Italy, 1965, set of fourteen.
Iconic and charming, the model "121" by Afra & Tobia Scarpa shows once again the Scar...
Category
1960s Italian Vintage Mid-Century Modern Chairs
Materials
Leather, Walnut, Plywood
Mid-Century modern italian 1970 Armchair Design by Mario Bellini for Cassina
By Mario Bellini, Cassina
Located in Milan, IT
1970s vintage armchair, Italian manufacture, design by Mario Bellini, Cassina production.
The armchair has an orange leather upholstery
Vintage design in good condition; but the leat...
Category
1970s Italian Vintage Mid-Century Modern Chairs
Materials
Leather
Afra & Tobia Scarpa Leather Model 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 black and English red leather upholstery...
Category
1960s Italian Vintage Mid-Century Modern Chairs
Materials
Leather, Walnut
Set of Two Franco Albini Luisa Chairs, 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 wood...
Category
2010s Italian Mid-Century Modern Chairs
Materials
Fabric, Wood
Vico Magistretti "Carimate" Dining Chairs for Cassina, 1960, Set of 16
Located in Lonigo, Veneto
Vico Magistretti "Carimate" dining chairs for Cassina, black lacquered wood and straw seat, Italy, 1960, set of sixteen.
The "Carimate" chair is one of Vico Magistretti’s most fam...
Category
1960s Italian Vintage Mid-Century Modern Chairs
Materials
Straw, Wood
Cassina Cab 412 China Red Leather Dining Chair Set of 4
By Cassina, Mario Bellini
Located in Munich, Bavaria
This Cab 412 dining chair was designed by Mario Bellini for Italian manufacturer Cassina.
It's the Dining chair version.
The classic Italian masterpiece in dining rooms.
It is uph...
Category
1970s Italian Vintage Mid-Century Modern Chairs
Materials
Steel
Frank Lloyd Wright Barrel Chair for Cassina
Located in Berlin, DE
The price given applies to the item as shown in the first picture. Prices vary dependent on the color and material of the chair. A timeless design informed by exceptional constructiv...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Mid-Century Modern Chairs
Materials
Fabric, 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, black leather, Italy, 1965, set of ten.
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
Afra & Tobia Scarpa Set of Four 121 Chairs by Cassina 1960s Italy
Located in Montecatini Terme, IT
From 1963 to 1966 the architects Afra and Tobia Scarpa collaborated with the Italian company Cassina, designing a series of furniture characterized by the use of solid wood, the stud...
Category
1960s Italian Vintage Mid-Century Modern Chairs
Materials
Ash, Plywood
Afra & Tobia Scarpa "121" Dining Chairs for Cassina, 1965, Set of 12
Located in Lonigo, Veneto
Afra & Tobia Scarpa "121" dining chairs for Cassina, black leather, Italy, 1965, set of twelve.
Iconic and charming, the model "121" by Afra & Tobia Scarpa shows once again the Scar...
Category
1960s Italian Vintage Mid-Century Modern Chairs
Materials
Leather, Walnut, Plywood
Gerrit Thomas Rietveld Zig Zag Chair for Cassina, Italy, new
Located in Berlin, DE
Price is dependent on the chosen material/color. Chair designed by Gerrit Thomas Rietveld in 1934. Relaunched in 1973/ 2011. Manufactured by Cassina in Italy.
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Mid-Century Modern Chairs
Materials
Wood
Charlotte Perriand 533 Doron Hotel Armchair for Cassina, Italy - new
Located in Berlin, DE
Prices vary dependent on the color and material. The price given applies to the chair as shown in the first picture. Charlotte Perriand 533 Doro...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Mid-Century Modern Chairs
Materials
Fur, Wood
Afra & Tobia Scarpa "121" Dining Chairs for Cassina, 1965, Set of 12
Located in Lonigo, Veneto
Afra & Tobia Scarpa "121" dining chairs for Cassina, black lacquered, Italy, 1965, set of twelve.
The model "121" manufactured Cassina shows Scarpa's typical double trestle struct...
Category
1960s Italian Vintage Mid-Century Modern Chairs
Materials
Walnut, Lacquer
Pr. Rosewood and Leather Lounge Arm Chairs by Tobia Scarpa for Cassina
Located in New York, NY
Iconic voguish Italian design, model 917 Cassina chairs designed by Tobia Scarpa, circa 1950's. The chairs feature rosewood frames, with black leather upholstery. The chairs are stru...
Category
Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Chairs
Materials
Leather, Wood
Attributed to Cassina Rare Cube Maralunga Leather Chairs and Ottoman, Set of 3
Located in Fort Lauderdale, FL
Extremely rare full cube style in natural hide leather and in original condition. Inherently stylish and intriguing! Elegant from every angle-his best design. Dripping with style mak...
Category
1970s Italian Vintage Mid-Century Modern Chairs
Materials
Leather, Wood
Le Corbusier, P.Jeanneret, Charlotte Perriand LC2 Poltrona Armchair by Cassina
Located in Barcelona, Barcelona
Armchair designed by Le Corbusier, Pierre Jeanneret, Charlotte Perriand in 1928.
Manufactured by Cassina in Italy.
Timeless, unique, and profoundly authentic, the LC2 armchair ha...
Category
2010s Italian Mid-Century Modern Chairs
Materials
Steel
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, then with Theo van Doesburg and Cornelius van Eesteren, Rietveld soon became one of the most distinguished interpreters of the neoplastic message.
Among his most important works are:
the Schröder house at Utrecht (1924); the “Row Houses” at Utrecht (1931-1934); the Dutch pavilion at the Venice Biennial (1954); the sculpture pavilion in the Rijksmuseum Kröller-Müller at Otterloo and the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam (1955). Out of his equally important furniture, Cassina has chosen for its own production: the “Red and Blue” (1918), the “Zig-Zag” (1934), the “Schröder 1...
Category
2010s Italian Mid-Century Modern Chairs
Materials
Leather, Wood
Afra & Tobia Scarpa "121" Dining Chairs for Cassina, 1965, Set of 16
Located in Lonigo, Veneto
Afra & Tobia Scarpa "121" dining chairs for Cassina, black lacquered, Italy, 1965, set of sixteen.
The model "121" manufactured Cassina shows Scarpa's typical double trestle structu...
Category
1960s Italian Vintage Mid-Century Modern Chairs
Materials
Walnut, Lacquer
Afra & Tobia Scarpa "121" Dining Chairs for Cassina, 1965, Set of 14
Located in Lonigo, Veneto
Afra & Tobia Scarpa "121" dining chairs for Cassina, black lacquered, Italy, 1965, set of fourteen.
The model "121" manufactured Cassina shows Scarpa's typical double trestle stru...
Category
1960s Italian Vintage Mid-Century Modern Chairs
Materials
Lacquer, Walnut
Charlotte Perriand LC7 Outdoor Chair for Cassina, Italy, new
Located in Berlin, DE
The price given applies to the piece as shown in the first picture. Prices vary dependent on the color and material of the chair.
Outdoor LC7 chair designed by Charlotte Perriand i...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Mid-Century Modern Chairs
Materials
Steel
Frank Lloyd Wright Robie Chair for Cassina, Italy, new
Located in Berlin, DE
The price given applies to the chair as shown in the first picture. Prices vary dependent on the color and material of the chair. The seat is available in fabric or leather (different colors available). The base/frame can be made in natural cherry wood, black stained cherry wood or American walnut...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Mid-Century Modern Chairs
Materials
Fabric, Wood
Charlotte Perriand Ombra Tokyo Oak Chair by Cassina
Located in Barcelona, Barcelona
Chair designed by Charlotte Perriand in 1954. Relaunched by Cassina in 2009.
Manufactured by Cassina in Italy.
With the Ombra Tokyo chair, Charlo...
Category
2010s Italian Mid-Century Modern Chairs
Materials
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
Paolo Deganello 'Aeo' Chair for the Archizoom Group by Cassina, Italy, new
Located in Berlin, DE
The seat is available in many different fabrics / leathers.
The AEO chair was the last product from the Archizoom group, and was designed by Paolo Degane...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Mid-Century Modern Chairs
Materials
Steel
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 at ...
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
Afra & Tobia Scarpa "121" Dining Chairs for Cassina, 1965, Set of 8
Located in Lonigo, Veneto
Afra & Tobia Scarpa "121" dining chairs for Cassina, black leather, Italy, 1965, set of eight.
Iconic and charming, the model "121" by Afra & Tobia Scarpa shows once again the Scarp...
Category
1960s Italian Vintage Mid-Century Modern Chairs
Materials
Leather, Walnut, Plywood
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
Franco Albini Luisa Chair for Cassina, Italy, new
By Franco Albini, Cassina
Located in Berlin, DE
Chair designed by Franco Albini in 1953. Relaunched in 2013. Manufactured by Cassina in Italy. The price given applies to the chair as seen in the first picture.
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Mid-Century Modern Chairs
Materials
Leather, Wood, Fabric
Crate Chair by Gerrit Rietveld, Designed in 1930s The Netherlands
Located in Hellouw, NL
Nice Gerrit Rietveld 'Crate' chair. This chair is designed in 1934, however, we think this is a Cassina edition from the 1970s. This chair is made out of ash wood and has a colorless lacquer.
'Gerrit Rietveld designed the 'crate' series of furniture built from standardized pine boards – cheap material for packing crates – which were soon well-known as ‘crate furniture’. 'From 1935 on the progressive designs appeared at Metz & Co, where furniture by Rietveld had already been sold since 1930. The crate desk...
Category
1930s Dutch Vintage Mid-Century Modern Chairs
Materials
Pine
Le Corbusier, P. Jeanneret, Charlotte Perriand LC2 Poltrona Armchair by Cassina
Located in Barcelona, Barcelona
Armchair designed by Le Corbusier, Pierre Jeanneret, Charlotte Perriand in 1928.
Manufactured by Cassina in Italy.
Timeless, unique, and profoundly authentic, the LC2 armchair ha...
Category
2010s Italian Mid-Century Modern Chairs
Materials
Steel
Set of Two Pierre Jeanneret 055 Capitol Complex Chairs 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
Set of 10 Gio Ponti 699 Superleggera by Cassina in Black
Located in Berlin, DE
Set of 10 Gio Ponti 699 Superleggera by Cassina in black
Manufactured since 1957, the Superleggera wood chair is the rare combination of the architec...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Mid-Century Modern Chairs
Materials
Cane, Ash
Set of Four Erik Gunnar Asplund 501 Göteborg Chair by Cassina
Located in Barcelona, Barcelona
Chair designed by Erik Gunnar in 1934-1937. Relaunched in 1983.
Manufactured by Cassina in Italy.
The Göteborg chair is Erik Gunnar Asplund’s poetic...
Category
2010s Italian Mid-Century Modern Chairs
Materials
Fabric, Wood
Set of Four Dining Chairs by Gianfranco Frattini for Cassina, 1960s
Located in Hellouw, NL
Set of Four Dining Chairs by Gianfranco Frattini for Cassina from the 1960s. The chairs are made of teak with a molded plywood back and red (faux) leather. They have great aesthetics...
Category
1960s Italian Vintage Mid-Century Modern Chairs
Materials
Faux Leather, Teak, Plywood
Le Corbusier, P.Jeanneret, Charlotte Perriand LC2 Poltrona Armchair by Cassina
Located in Barcelona, Barcelona
Armchair designed by Le Corbusier, Pierre Jeanneret, Charlotte Perriand in 1928.
Manufactured by Cassina in Italy.
Timeless, unique, and profoundly authentic, the LC2 armchair ha...
Category
2010s Italian Mid-Century Modern Chairs
Materials
Steel
Set of Four Franco Albini Luisa Chairs, 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
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-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, then with Theo van Doesburg and Cornelius van Eesteren, Rietveld soon became one of the most distinguished interpreters of the neoplastic message.
Among his most important works are:
the Schröder house at Utrecht (1924); the “Row Houses” at Utrecht (1931-1934); the Dutch pavilion at the Venice Biennial (1954); the sculpture pavilion in the Rijksmuseum Kröller-Müller at Otterloo and the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam (1955). Out of his equally important furniture, Cassina has chosen for its own production: the “Red and Blue” (1918), the “Zig-Zag” (1934), the “Schröder 1...
Category
2010s Italian Mid-Century Modern Chairs
Materials
Leather, Wood
Erik Gunnar Asplund 501 Göteborg Chair by Cassina
Located in Barcelona, Barcelona
Chair designed by Erik Gunnar in 1934-1937. Relaunched in 1983.
Manufactured by Cassina in Italy.
The Göteborg chair is Erik Gunnar Asplund’s poetic...
Category
2010s Italian Mid-Century Modern Chairs
Materials
Fabric, Wood
Vico Magistretti "Carimate" Dining Chairs for Cassina, 1960, Set of 6
Located in Lonigo, Veneto
Vico Magistretti "Carimate" dining chairs for Cassina, black lacquered wood and straw seat, Italy, 1960, set of six.
The "Carimate"chair is one of Vico Magistretti’s most famous c...
Category
1960s Italian Vintage Mid-Century Modern Chairs
Materials
Straw, Wood
Pierre Jeanneret 055 Capitol Complex Black Wood 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
Gerrit Thomas Rietveld Red and Blu Chair for Cassina
Located in bari, IT
A world icon of neo-plasticist design this chair armchair called Rood Blauwe (Red and Blue) by its Dutch designer Gerrit Thomas Rietveld, Cassina production in the 1960s.
Category
Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Chairs
Materials
Beech
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
Le Corbusier, Jeanneret, Charlotte Perriand LC2 Poltrona Armchair by Cassina
Located in Barcelona, Barcelona
Armchair designed by Le Corbusier, Pierre Jeanneret, Charlotte Perriand in 1928.
Manufactured by Cassina in Italy.
Timeless, unique, and profoundly authentic, the LC2 armchair ha...
Category
2010s Italian Mid-Century Modern Chairs
Materials
Steel
Set of Three Charlotte Perriand Ombra Tokyo Chair, Oak Stained Black by Cassina
Located in Barcelona, Barcelona
Set of Three Stackable Chairs, model Ombra Tokyo designed by Charlotte Perriand in 1954.
Relaunched by Cassina in 2009.
Manufactured by Cassina in Italy.
With the Ombra Tokyo chair...
Category
2010s Italian Mid-Century Modern Chairs
Materials
Wood
Toshiyuki Kita 'Aki' Swivel Armchair for Cassina, Italy, new
Located in Berlin, DE
Designed by Toshiyuki Kita in 2000. Manufactured by Cassina in Italy. The price given applies to the chair as seen in the first picture. Please ask for pricing in other materials/col...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Mid-Century Modern Chairs
Materials
Steel
Set of Four Franco Albini Luisa Chairs, 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 explora...
Category
2010s Italian Mid-Century Modern Chairs
Materials
Wood, Fabric
Charlotte Perriand “LC7” Dining Chairs for Cassina, 1927, Set of 6
Located in Lonigo, Veneto
Charlotte Perriand, Pierre Jeanneret and Le Corbusier “LC7” dining chairs for Cassina, brown leather and steel, Italy, 1927, set of six.
An icon with a ...
Category
1920s Italian Vintage Mid-Century Modern Chairs
Materials
Steel
Set of Two LC2 Armchair by Le Corbusier, Charlotte Perriand by Cassina
Located in Barcelona, Barcelona
Armchair designed by Le Corbusier, Pierre Jeanneret, Charlotte Perriand in 1928.
Manufactured by Cassina in Italy.
Timeless, unique, and profoundly authentic, the LC2 armchair ha...
Category
2010s Italian Mid-Century Modern Chairs
Materials
Steel
Set of Four Pierre Jeanneret 051 Capitol Complex Office 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
Afra & Tobia Scarpa "925" Easy Chairs for Cassina, 1966, Set of 2
Located in Lonigo, Veneto
Afra & Tobia Scarpa "925" easy chairs for Cassina, plywood and red leather, Italy, 1966, set of two.
In 1966 Afra & Tobia Scarpa designed the "925" chair, realized in walnut and leather. The low chair is inspired by a sketch made in 1943...
Category
1960s Italian Vintage Mid-Century Modern Chairs
Materials
Leather, Plywood
Vico Magistretti "Carimate" Dining Chairs for Cassina, 1960, Set of 12
Located in Lonigo, Veneto
Vico Magistretti "Carimate" dining chairs for Cassina, red lacquered wood and straw seat, Italy, 1960, set of twelve.
The "Carimate" chair is one of Vico Magistretti’s most famous c...
Category
1960s Italian Vintage Mid-Century Modern Chairs
Materials
Straw, Wood
Afra & Tobia Scarpa "121" Dining Chairs for Cassina, 1965, Set of 14
Located in Lonigo, Veneto
Afra & Tobia Scarpa "121" dining chairs for Cassina, black leather, Italy, 1965, set of fourteen.
Iconic and charming, the model "121" by Afra & Tobia Scarpa shows once again the Sc...
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.
Production delay:
8-9 weeks
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, then with Theo van Doesburg and Cornelius van Eesteren, Rietveld soon became one of the most distinguished interpreters of the neoplastic message.
Among his most important works are:
the Schröder house at Utrecht (1924); the “Row Houses” at Utrecht (1931-1934); the Dutch pavilion at the Venice Biennial (1954); the sculpture pavilion in the Rijksmuseum Kröller-Müller at Otterloo and the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam (1955). Out of his equally important furniture, Cassina has chosen for its own production: the “Red and Blue” (1918), the “Zig-Zag” (1934), the “Schröder 1...
Category
2010s Italian Mid-Century Modern Chairs
Materials
Wood, Leather
Le Corbusier, Pierre Jeanneret, Charlotte Perriand LC1 Villa Church Chair
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 ...
Category
2010s Italian Mid-Century Modern Chairs
Materials
Steel
Vico Magistretti "Carimate" Dining Chairs for Cassina, 1960, Set of 12
Located in Lonigo, Veneto
Vico Magistretti "Carimate" dining chairs for Cassina, black lacquered wood and straw seat, Italy, 1960, set of twelve.
The "Carimate" chair is one of Vico Magistretti’s most famous...
Category
1960s Italian Vintage Mid-Century Modern Chairs
Materials
Straw, Wood
Set of Two 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
Italinan Mid-Century Modern White Fabric N Wood Chairs by De Carli Cassina, 1958
Located in MIlano, IT
Italinan Mid-Century Modern White fabric and wood chairs by De Carli for Cassina, 1958
Pair of chairs with solid wood, elegant and rounded structure.
The seat and back are padded and...
Category
1950s Italian Vintage Mid-Century Modern Chairs
Materials
Fabric, 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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