Modern Stools
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 The modernists rejected both natural and historical references and relied primarily on industrial materials such as metal, glass, plywood, and, later, plastics.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.
1920s Dutch Vintage Modern Stools
Belgian Black Marble
Early 20th Century Cameroonian Modern Stools
Wood
1920s Dutch Vintage Modern Stools
Fabric, Oak
Mid-20th Century Ethiopian Modern Stools
Wood
1920s American Vintage Modern Stools
Leather, Wood
21st Century and Contemporary Portuguese Modern Stools
Fabric
2010s Italian Modern Stools
Wood
1920s Dutch Vintage Modern Stools
Fabric, Oak
20th Century Ivorian Modern Stools
Wood
1920s Dutch Vintage Modern Stools
Fabric, Teak
21st Century and Contemporary Portuguese Modern Stools
Wood, Fabric, Velvet
Early 20th Century Austrian Modern Stools
Leather, Wood, Beech
20th Century Italian Modern Stools
Wood
1960s Danish Vintage Modern Stools
Early 1900s French Antique Modern Stools
Ceramic
Early 1900s Czech Antique Modern Stools
Bentwood
Early 20th Century Ivorian Modern Stools
Wood
1920s Dutch Vintage Modern Stools
Steel, Chrome
1920s Dutch Vintage Modern Stools
Belgian Black Marble
1920s Italian Vintage Modern Stools
Metal
Early 20th Century English Modern Stools
Oak
Early 20th Century Italian Modern Stools
Leather, Oak
1920s Italian Vintage Modern Stools
Steel
1920s Italian Vintage Modern Stools
Steel
Early 20th Century Dutch Modern Stools
Early 1900s Austrian Antique Modern Stools
Bentwood, Cane