Willow Tree Settee by Charles Rennie Mackintosh

At the turn of the 20th century, the Scottish architect Charles Rennie Mackintosh created a singular, wholly original design style that was both lyrical and sleekly modern. Within his architectural schemes for schools, private homes and restaurants, Mackintosh — frequently working in collaboration with his wife, the artist Margaret Macdonald — invented an aesthetic that blends the organic flow of the Art Nouveau style and the honest simplicity of the English Arts & Crafts movement.

Mackintosh was born into a working-class Glasgow family, the fourth of the 11 children of a police clerk and his wife. At age 15, Mackintosh began to take night classes at the Glasgow School of Art — where he would study until 1894 — and the following year started an apprenticeship with local architect John Hutchison.

At the GSA, Mackintosh befriended Macdonald, her sister, Frances, and fellow architecture student Herbert McNair. Together they formed a graphic design team known as the Four, and were admired for their illustrations featuring sinuous botanical forms and sylph-like women. Around the same time, Mackintosh was hired by the architectural firm Honeyman and Keppie. where he drafted the company’s winning design for a new GSA building. The structure, with its brooding, asymmetrical facade punctuated by soaring studio windows, would be his architectural masterwork. By 1900, Mackintosh was designing houses and began the interiors for a group of Glasgow tea parlors in which he and Macdonald would produce some of the most alluring, lushly graphic decors of the era. Mackintosh’s work became widely influential on the continent, particularly among Josef Hoffmann, Koloman Moser and other members of the Vienna Secession movement.

His work on private homes and tearooms generated the furniture designs for which Mackintosh is best known today. These include the Hill House chair, with its latticed back; the Argyle Street Tea Room chair, which features an oval head rail with a cutout that resembles a bird in flight; and several others — all instantly recognizable for their stunning tall backs.

Mackintosh’s furniture works well in both traditional and modern interiors, though by virtue of both its familiarity and striking lines it tends to stand out. Because he was much more esteemed in Europe than in Britain, relatively few antique Mackintosh works survive, and those that have are museum pieces. Recently produced examples of his designs are widely available — notably, the Italian firm Cassina has been making fine Mackintosh pieces since the early 1970s. As you will see on 1stDibs, the furniture of Charles Rennie Mackintosh is ever intriguing and engaging. His work is a historical touchstone that would be welcome in the home of any modern design aficionado.

Owing to the company’s collaborations with many leading designers and artists over time, vintage Baker furniture is consistently sought after today. The heritage brand’s chairs, dining tables, desks and other pieces are widely known to collectors and design enthusiasts for their fine craftsmanship and durability.

Within a few decades of its launch, Baker Furniture Company evolved into one of the largest and most important furniture manufacturers in the United States and became known for its high-quality production standards. Siebe Baker and business partner Henry Cook founded the original iteration of Baker Furniture Company in 1890 in Allegan, Michigan, after immigrating to the United States from the Netherlands. Allegan is a small town west of Grand Rapids, which, at that time was home to Widdicomb Furniture Co. and more and was known as America’s furniture capital. The company manufactured doors and interior moldings and introduced a combination desk and bookcase in 1893. In the early 1900s, Siebe became the sole owner of the business.

Among others, stage designer Joseph Urban and modernist designer Kem Weber contributed designs to Baker in the 1920s. In 1932, under the leadership of Siebe’s son, Hollis, who started at the company as a salesman but took the reins when his father passed in 1925, Baker Furniture introduced bedroom pieces and debuted its Manor House collection, which made reproductions of European furnishings available to the American market. (Hollis was an avid traveler and procured antiques overseas for the company to reproduce in the United States.) Soon, Baker Furniture Company moved to Holland, Michigan, and eventually opened showrooms in Grand Rapids and elsewhere.

Pioneering Scandinavian designer Finn Juhl created a Danish modern line for Baker in 1951, and the company produced his award-winning Chieftain chair for a short time. In the late 1950s, Baker introduced the Milling Road label to reach a younger audience with stylish but less costly furnishings like console tables, walnut dining chairs and more, and in 1961, British furniture designer T.H. Robsjohn-Gibbings introduced a modern neoclassical line at Baker.

The 1960s and ’70s saw the introduction of historic reproduction furniture lines such as Woburn Abbey and the Historic Charleston collection, which remain very popular to this day. In 1990, Baker was licensed to produce a furniture line from Colonial Williamsburg. That same year, the Smithsonian Museum introduced Baker’s Chippendale chair into its permanent collection and the Grand Rapids Art Museum dedicated an exhibition to Baker’s 100th anniversary, a showcase that included 150 pieces of furniture Siebe Baker had collected as part of a larger assortment that had served as inspiration for his designs.

Today, vintage Baker furniture, such as its elegant mahogany nightstands and teak credenzas — particularly those crafted by Finn Juhl — sees high demand online and elsewhere. The company continues to produce contemporary collections with well-known designers such as Bill Sofield, Barbara Barry and Kara Mann and remains on par with some of the highest quality furniture in the industry.

Browse vintage Baker armchairs, sofas, coffee tables and other furniture on 1stDibs.