Modern Buffets
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 The modernists rejected both natural and historical references and relied primarily on industrial materials such as metal, glass, plywood, and, later, plastics.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.
2010s American Modern Buffets
Glass, Wood
2010s Italian Modern Buffets
Marble, Gold, Brass
2010s American Modern Buffets
Walnut, Glass
2010s Italian Modern Buffets
Leather, Ebony, Maple, Olive
2010s Egyptian Modern Buffets
Oak
2010s Egyptian Modern Buffets
Stainless Steel
2010s Canadian Modern Buffets
Metal
1960s French Vintage Modern Buffets
Ceramic, Rattan
2010s North American Modern Buffets
Metal
2010s American Modern Buffets
Glass, Wood
2010s American Modern Buffets
Glass, Wood
Late 20th Century American Modern Buffets
Wood
2010s Mexican Modern Buffets
Leather, Fabric, Wood, Oak, Walnut
21st Century and Contemporary Vietnamese Modern Buffets
Metal
2010s American Modern Buffets
Oak
1960s Italian Vintage Modern Buffets
Marble, Brass
21st Century and Contemporary Vietnamese Modern Buffets
Wood
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Buffets
Leather, Lacquer
Late 20th Century American Modern Buffets
Brass
2010s Italian Modern Buffets
Wood, Ash
Late 20th Century Unknown Modern Buffets
Brass
2010s Italian Modern Buffets
Metal
2010s Portuguese Modern Buffets
Brass
2010s Mexican Modern Buffets
Leather, Fabric, Wood, Oak, Walnut
2010s Mexican Modern Buffets
Oak, Plywood
2010s Australian Modern Buffets
Brass
21st Century and Contemporary Modern Buffets
Art Glass, Lacquer, Oak
2010s Italian Modern Buffets
Onyx
2010s French Modern Buffets
Wood
2010s French Modern Buffets
Wood
2010s American Modern Buffets
Oak
2010s French Modern Buffets
Wood
20th Century European Modern Buffets
Elm
21st Century and Contemporary Asian Modern Buffets
Wood
2010s Mexican Modern Buffets
Leather, Fabric, Wood, Oak, Walnut
2010s Lebanese Modern Buffets
Brass
2010s Lebanese Modern Buffets
Fabric
2010s American Modern Buffets
Glass, Wood
2010s Italian Modern Buffets
Metal
2010s Portuguese Modern Buffets
Brass
2010s American Modern Buffets
Brass
21st Century and Contemporary Asian Modern Buffets
Wood
Early 2000s American Modern Buffets
Brass
2010s Portuguese Modern Buffets
Brass
2010s Portuguese Modern Buffets
Brass
2010s American Modern Buffets
Lacquer
2010s American Modern Buffets
Lacquer
2010s Portuguese Modern Buffets
Wood, Walnut
2010s Portuguese Modern Buffets
Brass
2010s Philippine Modern Buffets
Rattan, Walnut
21st Century and Contemporary Vietnamese Modern Buffets
Wood
2010s Philippine Modern Buffets
Rattan, Maple
2010s American Modern Buffets
Brass
2010s North American Modern Buffets
Brass
2010s Italian Modern Buffets
Brass
2010s European Modern Buffets
Brass
2010s American Modern Buffets
Brass
2010s French Modern Buffets
Slate, Brass