Modern Shelves
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 The modernists rejected both natural and historical references and relied primarily on industrial materials such as metal, glass, plywood, and, later, plastics.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 Shelves
Metal, Steel
2010s Chinese Modern Shelves
Fiberglass
2010s American Modern Shelves
Metal, Steel
2010s American Modern Shelves
Metal, Steel
2010s American Modern Shelves
Metal, Steel
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Shelves
Resin
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Shelves
Resin
2010s American Modern Shelves
Pine
2010s American Modern Shelves
Metal, Steel
2010s American Modern Shelves
Metal, Steel
2010s American Modern Shelves
Pine
2010s Asian Modern Shelves
Walnut
2010s German Modern Shelves
Stainless Steel
2010s Modern Shelves
Hardwood
2010s American Modern Shelves
Metal, Steel
2010s American Modern Shelves
Metal, Steel
2010s French Modern Shelves
Oak, Plastic
2010s American Modern Shelves
Metal, Steel
2010s Italian Modern Shelves
Other
2010s Italian Modern Shelves
Other
2010s Swedish Modern Shelves
Birch
21st Century and Contemporary Vietnamese Modern Shelves
Metal
2010s American Modern Shelves
Steel
2010s Chinese Modern Shelves
Fiberglass
2010s German Modern Shelves
Plywood
2010s German Modern Shelves
Plywood
21st Century and Contemporary Spanish Modern Shelves
Aluminum
2010s Macedonian Modern Shelves
Walnut
2010s Spanish Modern Shelves
Wood, Walnut
2010s Dutch Modern Shelves
Aluminum
2010s Italian Modern Shelves
Oak
2010s German Modern Shelves
Plywood
2010s Danish Modern Shelves
Steel
2010s British Modern Shelves
Brass
2010s Spanish Modern Shelves
Wood, Hardwood
21st Century and Contemporary European Modern Shelves
Brass
2010s American Modern Shelves
Steel
2010s Spanish Modern Shelves
Aluminum
2010s Danish Modern Shelves
Oak, Walnut
2010s Italian Modern Shelves
Oak
2010s Danish Modern Shelves
Steel
2010s French Modern Shelves
Steel
2010s German Modern Shelves
Steel
2010s British Modern Shelves
Cherry, Maple, Walnut
2010s Danish Modern Shelves
Steel
2010s Danish Modern Shelves
Steel
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Shelves
Walnut
2010s Danish Modern Shelves
Steel
2010s Italian Modern Shelves
Marble
2010s Danish Modern Shelves
Oak, Walnut
2010s Danish Modern Shelves
Steel
2010s German Modern Shelves
Plywood
2010s Danish Modern Shelves
Steel
2010s Danish Modern Shelves
Steel
21st Century and Contemporary Spanish Modern Shelves
Aluminum
2010s German Modern Shelves
Plywood
2010s German Modern Shelves
Plywood
2010s German Modern Shelves
Plywood