Modern Desks
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 The modernists rejected both natural and historical references and relied primarily on industrial materials such as metal, glass, plywood, and, later, plastics.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.
Late 20th Century Unknown Modern Desks
Brass
2010s Portuguese Modern Desks
Bronze, Iron
2010s French Modern Desks
Metal
21st Century and Contemporary Slovak Modern Desks
Iron
21st Century and Contemporary Vietnamese Modern Desks
Wood
2010s Canadian Modern Desks
Ash
2010s Lebanese Modern Desks
Brass
1930s Czech Vintage Modern Desks
Metal, Chrome
21st Century and Contemporary Portuguese Modern Desks
Carrara Marble, Marble, Onyx, Brass
1940s Italian Vintage Modern Desks
Wood
1930s Czech Vintage Modern Desks
Metal, Chrome
21st Century and Contemporary Portuguese Modern Desks
Metal, Brass
21st Century and Contemporary Vietnamese Modern Desks
Metal
21st Century and Contemporary American Modern Desks
Metal
21st Century and Contemporary Portuguese Modern Desks
Crystal, Brass, Stainless Steel
2010s North American Modern Desks
Chrome
21st Century and Contemporary Modern Desks
Maple
21st Century and Contemporary Vietnamese Modern Desks
Metal
2010s French Modern Desks
Metal
2010s American Modern Desks
Chrome
21st Century and Contemporary Canadian Modern Desks
Wood, Leather
21st Century and Contemporary Slovenian Modern Desks
Wood
2010s Italian Modern Desks
Brass
2010s American Modern Desks
Chrome
1950s French Vintage Modern Desks
Metal
2010s American Modern Desks
Maple, Plywood
2010s American Modern Desks
Chrome
2010s French Modern Desks
Metal
20th Century Spanish Modern Desks
Wood, Oak
2010s French Modern Desks
Metal
21st Century and Contemporary Vietnamese Modern Desks
Leather, Wood
21st Century and Contemporary Vietnamese Modern Desks
Wood
21st Century and Contemporary Asian Modern Desks
Metal
21st Century and Contemporary Asian Modern Desks
Metal
21st Century and Contemporary Vietnamese Modern Desks
Wood
21st Century and Contemporary Vietnamese Modern Desks
Wood
2010s Italian Modern Desks
Wood, Leather
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Desks
Leather, Wood
21st Century and Contemporary American Modern Desks
Steel
2010s Italian Modern Desks
Wood, Glass
2010s Italian Modern Desks
Metal
21st Century and Contemporary American Modern Desks
Hardwood
1980s Vintage Modern Desks
Wood, Maple
21st Century and Contemporary American Modern Desks
Hardwood
21st Century and Contemporary Vietnamese Modern Desks
Wood
21st Century and Contemporary Vietnamese Modern Desks
Metal
21st Century and Contemporary American Modern Desks
Mahogany, Parchment Paper
21st Century and Contemporary Vietnamese Modern Desks
Wood
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Desks
Metal
21st Century and Contemporary North American Modern Desks
Steel
1940s French Vintage Modern Desks
Oak, Lacquer
2010s American Modern Desks
Metal
20th Century English Modern Desks
Leather, Hardwood
21st Century and Contemporary Slovenian Modern Desks
Wood
2010s French Modern Desks
Wood, Ash
1960s Italian Vintage Modern Desks
Metal
2010s German Modern Desks
Steel
21st Century and Contemporary Vietnamese Modern Desks
Brass