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 The modernists rejected both natural and historical references and relied primarily on industrial materials such as metal, glass, plywood, and, later, plastics.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.
1970s Italian Vintage Modern Cabinets
Metal
1970s Spanish Vintage Modern Cabinets
Straw, Wood
1970s Italian Vintage Modern Cabinets
Brass
1970s Belgian Vintage Modern Cabinets
Glass, Plastic, Wood
1970s American Vintage Modern Cabinets
Wood
1970s American Vintage Modern Cabinets
Brass
1970s Danish Vintage Modern Cabinets
Oak
1970s Danish Vintage Modern Cabinets
Rosewood
1970s Danish Vintage Modern Cabinets
Metal
1970s Canadian Vintage Modern Cabinets
Aluminum
1970s Finnish Vintage Modern Cabinets
Metal
1970s Vintage Modern Cabinets
Rattan
1970s Italian Vintage Modern Cabinets
Laminate, Cherry
1970s American Vintage Modern Cabinets
Brass
1970s Italian Vintage Modern Cabinets
Metal, Brass
1970s American Vintage Modern Cabinets
Steel, Brass
1970s American Vintage Modern Cabinets
Brass
1970s Italian Vintage Modern Cabinets
Plastic
1970s Italian Vintage Modern Cabinets
Steel
1970s Swedish Vintage Modern Cabinets
Brass
1970s Belgian Vintage Modern Cabinets
Wood
1970s American Vintage Modern Cabinets
Maple
1970s Swedish Vintage Modern Cabinets
Brass
1970s Italian Vintage Modern Cabinets
Glass, Wood, Lacquer
1970s Italian Vintage Modern Cabinets
Glass, Lacquer
1970s Italian Vintage Modern Cabinets
Walnut, Maple
1970s American Vintage Modern Cabinets
Aluminum, Bronze, Chrome
1970s American Vintage Modern Cabinets
Parchment Paper
1970s Italian Vintage Modern Cabinets
Marble, Metal