Mid-Century Modern Buffets
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
Period: 1930s
Pier Luigi Colli Large Sideboard in Wood with Drawers Italian Manufacturer 1930s
Located in Montecatini Terme, IT
Large sideboard is entirely realized in oak wood, with four drawers on each side (for a total of eight drawers) and a central storage unit.
Designed by Pier Luigi Colli Italian Manufacture from 1938 ca.
To reconstruct the story of Pier Luigi Colli, we must take a leap back to the 19th century in Turin, a multifaceted city, in some ways controversial due to its austere and sometimes introverted character, but at the core of a creative drive: and if it is primarily known for its automobile industry, there was a time when Turin was at the height of fame also in the field of furniture and embroidery, thanks to the presence of two entrepreneurial realities.
On the one hand there was the MIRAM (Italian Hand-Made Embroidery Manufacture) founded by Pietro Colli in 1850, specializing in gobelin fabrics and bandera embroideries. His daughter Teresa traveled between Italy and Paris to discover the latest trends in fabrics and embroidery, while her younger brother, Pier Luigi Colli (1895-1968), the star of this story, joined the company in 1921. Distinguishing himself for his enterprising personality and willing to continue his father's profession, Pier Luigi was known to his contemporaries as "the artist interior designer", and had no doubts about his future: he moved temporarily to Paris, where he attended L'Ecole des Beaux Arts Décoratives.
The other great Turin manufacturer to be mentioned is Martinotti, founded in 1931 by Giuseppe Martinotti and supplier of fine furnishings for the Savoy court, pieces which were characterized by a typically 19th century eclectic style, generally made of exotic woods featuring ivory and tortoiseshell inlays: at that time, Martinotti represented the top of internationality, having even participated in the 1875 Philadelphia exhibition!
The two brands' fate merged in 1902, a decisive year for Turin which, hosting the International Exhibition of Modern Decorative Art, became the cradle of the spread of the Liberty style in Italy. In the exhibition, Martinotti exhibited an elegant interior, in which all the textile parts, from the curtains to the seat upholstery, was made by Colli. It was in 1926 that Colli (MIRAM) finally acquired Martinotti, founding a laboratory where, from the savoir faire of the two companies, complete pieces of furniture were created and tailor-made for the customer, from the structure to its upholstery.
Meanwhile, Pier Luigi Colli was living in Paris, the ideal place to be in 1925, when the International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts brought him closer to the work of one of his putative fathers, the great French cabinet maker Jacques-Émile Ruhlmann (Paris, 1879 - 1933). Thanks to Paris, Pier Luigi intertwined contacts with the international beau monde, he started to import Lalique glass from France, while the Colli's clientele expanded and special commissions arrived, such as the creation of the Royal Train of the Savoy family made with Fiat, or the lecture hall in the University of Turin.
The success of a brand is also measured by its openness to establishing collaborations with the great designers of its time, in the case of Colli resulting in important creative partnerships: from Gio Ponti, who relied on the brand for his Richard Ginori project in Rome, up to Carlo Mollino, who created with Colli the handrails of the RAI (national TV) auditorium and the windows of the Teatro Regio in Turin; also in Turin, the Morbelli architects collaborated with Colli for the furnishings of the RAI skyscraper, and the architects Gabetti Isola for the interiors of the Stock Exchange in Turin.
In the 40s and 50s, having opened a branch in Rome, Colli was at the peak of productivity. The embroidery and textile section continued to be one of its strengths, keeping alive the relations with France and its great masters: among the inspirations were the geometric shapes of the fabrics of Ruhlmann's interiors, or the tactile carpets made by designer Mariod Dorn. And so, another Colli trademark become the "textured carpet...
Category
1930s Italian Vintage Mid-Century Modern Buffets
Materials
Wood, Oak
Studio Athelia, Modernist Sideboard in Walnut, France, 1935
By Athelia by Robert Bloch
Located in Catonvielle, FR
Athelia, Studio des Trois Quartiers, modernist two-door walnut sideboard attributed to Robert Block, Paris, 1935.
Director of Studio Athelia founded in ...
Category
1930s French Vintage Mid-Century Modern Buffets
Materials
Walnut
Large Carved Wood Cabinet "Hunter" Unique Piece
Located in Lyon, FR
Unique piece, amazing cabinet made by a passionate cabinet maker. Really nice carved wood work. Old documentation about it on request.
Category
1930s French Vintage Mid-Century Modern Buffets
Materials
Wood
Blackened Oak Cabinet
Located in Brooklyn, NY
Blackened oak cabinet from the 1930's.
Located in Brooklyn
Category
1930s French Vintage Mid-Century Modern Buffets
Materials
Oak
Fine French 1950s 2 Doors Lime Oak Buffet
Located in Long Island City, NY
A fine French Mid-Century cerused oak sideboard with black diamond pattern inlays on the 2 doors.
Category
1930s French Vintage Mid-Century Modern Buffets
Materials
Oak
Osvaldo Borsani Walnut Briar Mid-Century Sideboard 'Attr.'
Located in Milano, IT
Beautiful, unusual sideboard in walnut-root, dating from the 1930s, attributed to the great designer Osvaldo Borsani.
The sideboard is entirely made of very beautiful walnut-root, w...
Category
1930s Italian Vintage Mid-Century Modern Buffets
Materials
Walnut
French Mid-Century Modern Studded Leather Cabinet, Style of Jacques Adnet, 1930
Located in New York, NY
A Rare and Unique French Art Deco / Mid-Century Modern cabinet with the 2 large front doors and 2 front drawers covered in dark red leather and studde...
Category
1930s French Vintage Mid-Century Modern Buffets
Materials
Leather, Hardwood
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Mid-century Modern buffets for sale on 1stDibs.
Find a broad range of unique Mid-Century Modern buffets 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 buffets created in this style to your space, the works available on 1stDibs include case pieces and storage cabinets, tables, asian art and furniture and other home furnishings, frequently crafted with wood, metal and other materials. If you’re shopping for used Mid-Century Modern buffets made in a specific country, there are Europe, North America, and United States pieces for sale on 1stDibs. While there are many designers and brands associated with original buffets, popular names associated with this style include Drexel, Guillerme et Chambron, Kipp Stewart, and Edward Wormley. 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 buffets differ depending upon multiple factors, including designer, materials, construction methods, condition and provenance. On 1stDibs, the price for these items starts at $100 and tops out at $82,000 while the average work can sell for $5,195.
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