Modern Cabinets
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 The modernists rejected both natural and historical references and relied primarily on industrial materials such as metal, glass, plywood, and, later, plastics.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.
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Cabinets
Acrylic
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Cabinets
Wood, Ceramic
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Cabinets
Wood, Ceramic
2010s Portuguese Modern Cabinets
Brass
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Cabinets
Brass
2010s Egyptian Modern Cabinets
Brass
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Cabinets
Wood
21st Century and Contemporary Dutch Modern Cabinets
Steel
21st Century and Contemporary Indian Modern Cabinets
Brass
21st Century and Contemporary Indian Modern Cabinets
Resin
21st Century and Contemporary European Modern Cabinets
Wood
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Cabinets
Steel
2010s Italian Modern Cabinets
Aluminum
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Cabinets
Wood
1970s Italian Vintage Modern Cabinets
Glass, Lacquer
2010s Italian Modern Cabinets
Bronze
2010s Italian Modern Cabinets
Metal
2010s Italian Modern Cabinets
Gold Leaf
21st Century and Contemporary Brazilian Modern Cabinets
Metal
Late 19th Century American Antique Modern Cabinets
Steel
21st Century and Contemporary Brazilian Modern Cabinets
Metal
21st Century and Contemporary Brazilian Modern Cabinets
Metal
1880s Danish Antique Modern Cabinets
Mahogany, Walnut
21st Century and Contemporary French Modern Cabinets
Shagreen Stingray
1970s French Vintage Modern Cabinets
Brass
Late 20th Century Moroccan Modern Cabinets
Bone
21st Century and Contemporary French Modern Cabinets
Shagreen Stingray
Early 20th Century Japanese Modern Cabinets
Metal
2010s European Modern Cabinets
Metal
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Cabinets
Glass
2010s Italian Modern Cabinets
Other
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Cabinets
Acrylic
Early 2000s Italian Modern Cabinets
Lacquer
2010s French Modern Cabinets
Metal
1960s French Vintage Modern Cabinets
Plastic