Modern Furniture
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 The modernists rejected both natural and historical references and relied primarily on industrial materials such as metal, glass, plywood, and, later, plastics.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 Furniture
Steel
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Furniture
Aluminum
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Furniture
Nickel
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Furniture
Aluminum
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Furniture
Wrought Iron
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Furniture
Steel
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Furniture
Wrought Iron
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Furniture
Nickel
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Furniture
Metal
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Furniture
Steel
21st Century and Contemporary Danish Modern Furniture
Metal
21st Century and Contemporary German Modern Furniture
Other
21st Century and Contemporary German Modern Furniture
Wood
2010s French Modern Furniture
Bronze
21st Century and Contemporary American Modern Furniture
Aluminum
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Furniture
Plastic
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Furniture
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Furniture
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Furniture
Brass
21st Century and Contemporary Portuguese Modern Furniture
Granite, Onyx, Marble, Brass
2010s Italian Modern Furniture
Crystal, Brass, Bronze
2010s Italian Modern Furniture
Crystal, Brass, Gold
2010s Italian Modern Furniture
Crystal, Brass, Gold
2010s American Modern Furniture
Bronze
21st Century and Contemporary American Modern Furniture
Gold
21st Century and Contemporary American Modern Furniture
Bronze, Gold Leaf, Brass, Nickel
2010s Italian Modern Furniture
Brass, Bronze, Metal
1970s French Vintage Modern Furniture
Bronze
21st Century and Contemporary American Modern Furniture
Brass, Bronze
Late 20th Century French Modern Furniture
Bronze
2010s American Modern Furniture
Gold
21st Century and Contemporary American Modern Furniture
Bronze
21st Century and Contemporary American Modern Furniture
Bronze
1980s Danish Vintage Modern Furniture
Gold Plate
2010s Modern Furniture
Bronze
1990s Italian Modern Furniture
Brass, Bronze, Chrome
21st Century and Contemporary American Modern Furniture
Gold
21st Century and Contemporary American Modern Furniture
Gold
2010s French Modern Furniture
Bronze
2010s Turkish Modern Furniture
Gold
2010s Turkish Modern Furniture
Gold
2010s American Modern Furniture
Gold
2010s Turkish Modern Furniture
Gold
2010s American Modern Furniture
Gold
2010s American Modern Furniture
Ceramic, Clay, Luster, Stoneware
2010s American Modern Furniture
Brass, Bronze, Stainless Steel
2010s American Modern Furniture
Gold
1990s German Modern Furniture
Crystal, Gold Leaf, Brass
21st Century and Contemporary Indian Modern Furniture
Bronze
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Furniture
Crystal, Bronze
1970s American Vintage Modern Furniture
Bronze
20th Century French Modern Furniture
Crystal, Bronze
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Furniture
Crystal, Bronze
Early 20th Century Italian Modern Furniture
Glass
21st Century and Contemporary Portuguese Modern Furniture
Marble, Granite, Brass, Bronze
1970s French Vintage Modern Furniture
Bronze, Metal, Brass
2010s British Modern Furniture
Bronze
1980s French Vintage Modern Furniture
Gold Plate, Silver Plate