Modern Wardrobes and Armoires
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 The modernists rejected both natural and historical references and relied primarily on industrial materials such as metal, glass, plywood, and, later, plastics.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 Canadian Modern Wardrobes and Armoires
Epoxy Resin, Walnut, Paint
21st Century and Contemporary Canadian Modern Wardrobes and Armoires
Steel
21st Century and Contemporary Canadian Modern Wardrobes and Armoires
Epoxy Resin, Walnut, Paint
21st Century and Contemporary Canadian Modern Wardrobes and Armoires
Epoxy Resin, Walnut, Paint
21st Century and Contemporary Canadian Modern Wardrobes and Armoires
Epoxy Resin, Walnut, Paint
17th Century Italian Antique Modern Wardrobes and Armoires
Walnut
Late 19th Century Hungarian Antique Modern Wardrobes and Armoires
Pine
Early 1900s Antique Modern Wardrobes and Armoires
Ash, Cherry
Late 19th Century French Antique Modern Wardrobes and Armoires
Walnut
Late 19th Century Hungarian Antique Modern Wardrobes and Armoires
Pine
1880s French Antique Modern Wardrobes and Armoires
Oak
1960s American Vintage Modern Wardrobes and Armoires
Brass
18th Century French Antique Modern Wardrobes and Armoires
Oak
Mid-20th Century American Modern Wardrobes and Armoires
Mirror, Wood
Early 20th Century Belgian Modern Wardrobes and Armoires
Wood, Walnut, Glass, Oak
Early 20th Century Hungarian Modern Wardrobes and Armoires
Pine
Early 20th Century Hungarian Modern Wardrobes and Armoires
Pine